Food & Nutrition

USDA FNS Publishes School Meals Final Rule 

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) published the final rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Revisions to Meal Patterns Consistent With the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The final rule finalizes long-term school nutrition standards to be consistent with the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs). The final provisions revise the Child Nutrition Program meal patterns to include added sugar limits with product limits for cereal, yogurt, and flavored milk, as well as a phased approach that will add a 10% weekly limit on added sugars across all school meals. The final rule also includes a single sodium reduction limit for breakfast and lunch, maintains milk and whole grain nutrition standards, and strengthens the Buy American provision, among others. USDA will not begin implementation of these updated standards until school year 2025-26 and will use a phased-in approach thereafter.

Senate Introduces Childhood Diabetes Reduction Act

Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Peter Welch (D-VT) introduced the Childhood Diabetes Reduction Act. The bill would require FDA to implement front-of-package (FOP) health and nutrient warning labels on food and beverage products, direct the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to conduct and support research on the health effects of ultra-processed foods, prohibit the advertising or marketing of junk food targeted to children, and direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop a national education campaign on FOP health and nutrient warnings and health risks associated with poor nutrition. The legislation comes as the FDA intends to publish a proposed rule that would require FOP nutrition labeling as early as June 2024.

Tufts Food is Medicine Institute Hosts Second Annual Food is Medicine Summit 

The Tufts University Food is Medicine Institute, in partnership with Kaiser Permanente, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Walmart Foundation, held its second annual Food is Medicine Summit on April 24, 2024. The summit built on the Institute's first Food is Medicine Summit convened in April 2023, convening healthcare system leaders, providers, investors, policymakers, and patients with lived experience to highlight the advancement of research, training, patient care, and community and policy engagement within the food is medicine field. During the event, panelists emphasized the growing momentum of the food is medicine movement in Congress and across federal agencies. The summit highlighted the importance of accelerated action to further integrate food is medicine into the healthcare sector and strengthen public and private partnerships to improve health equity and patient overall health outcomes.

ATNI Publishes Discussion Paper on Classification of Processed Foods

The Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNI) published a discussion paper on the classification of processed foods. The discussion paper provides an overview of global food processing classification systems, debates on existing classification systems of processed foods, challenges and opportunities for food companies, and evidence for associations of food processing with various health outcomes, among others. The paper indicated that while there is not a global consensus on the classification of food processing levels in the policy and investment space, policymakers have called for more attention to the issue and continue to discourage the consumption of processed foods.

Food Safety

FDA Hosts New Era of Smarter Food Safety Meeting on Data and Technology

FDA hosted a public meeting on Data and Technology in the New Era of Smarter Food Safety that featured presentations from the agency on data and technology activities that can be leveraged by both government and industry to advance food safety under the New Era of Smarter Food Safety. During the meeting, the agency highlighted the need for increased funding and resources to carry out their New Era initiatives effectively. Public comments during the meeting included input on technology solutions to advance food safety as well as requests for the agency to meet companies where they are and continue to educate on new technologies.

Congress Introduces Forever Chemical Regulation and Accountability Act

Representative Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the Forever Chemical Regulation and Accountability Act to address the exposure and contamination of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) across the supply chain. The bill would prohibit the manufacture, sale, and distribution of PFAS in various products, such as food packaging. The legislation would also direct the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to study the persistence, bioaccumulation, and human health risks of PFAS and require manufacturers of PFAS to file reports with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to disclose certain information relating to PFAS and submit a phase-out schedule of their products to be completed within ten years, among others.

Agriculture

GAO Releases Report on USDA Federal Food Purchases and Local Sourcing

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) published the report, Federal Food Purchases: Buying from Small Businesses and Local Sources. The report provides information about how USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) and the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) make decisions about the types of food to purchase, the amount they purchase from small businesses, and their purchases of locally grown food in fiscal years 2018 through 2022. GAO found that USDA AMS and the DOD DLA accounted for more than 90% of all federal purchases of domestic food, and AMS provided more than $600 million in financial assistance to states, territories, and tribal governments to purchase foods produced within the state to help support local, regional, and underserved producers. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and John Fetterman (D-PA) released a statement in support of these findings, highlighting the opportunities and significant role played by the federal agencies to increase their sourcing of locally grown food products such as fruits and vegetables. 

Global

WHO Publishes Second Edition of Global Sodium Benchmarks for Food Categories 

The World Health Organization (WHO) published the second edition of the agency's global benchmarks for sodium levels in 70 food subcategories as part of WHO’s efforts to reduce global sodium intakes. The second edition updates the global sodium benchmark values by creating new subcategories and providing expanded examples and descriptions for food subcategories. Some new subcategories, such as granola and cereal-type bars, nut butters, and extra-hard ripened cheese were developed to reflect regional variability in foods available in the global market. The first edition of the WHO global sodium benchmarks, published in May 2021, contained ten pre-determined benchmarks for different food categories, while the second edition builds on these findings and expands the coverage of each category to include more information on how to set national targets for sodium reduction.

Fun Fact: The first fruit to be eaten on the moon was a peach.