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RFK Jr. Faces Battles in Quest to Change America’s Food
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a pledge last month on Fox News: He would get processed food out of school lunches “immediately” if he is given a position in a second Trump administration. The message shocked nutrition experts who remember how Trump’s first administration fought against stricter school lunch standards.
In 2017, Sonny Perdue — Trump’s agriculture secretary — declared he would “make school meals great again,” and for the next four years, he and other Republicans waged an assault on Michelle Obama’s efforts to design healthier school menus when she was first lady.
Kennedy’s expected role in overseeing aspects of food policy in the new administration marks a significant shift in how Trump is planning to regulate the nation’s food.
Some of the ideas Kennedy is pushing — such as stripping ultra-processed food from school cafeterias and cracking down on food dye — have found public support on the right and left.
Lunchables Removed From National School Lunch Program
Lunchables will no longer be on the menu at schools around the U.S.
Kraft Heinz, the company that produces Lunchables, announced Tuesday that it will remove the meal kits from the National School Lunch Program. The company pulled the product because demand did not reach its targets, but it plans to revisit the idea in the future, according to an emailed statement from Kraft Heinz.
The decision comes after Consumer Reports tested the school versions of the grocery store snacks and found high levels of sodium, lead and cadmium. “We’re pleased that Heinz Kraft has pulled Lunchables from the school lunch program,” Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports said in a statement. “The USDA should maintain stricter eligibility standards for the school lunch programs so that the millions of kids that depend on it get the healthier options they deserve.”
Pesticide Consumption May Be Linked to Male Infertility, Harvard Study Suggests
A study conducted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health demonstrated that high intake of pesticide residue from fruits and vegetables may reduce fertility in men.
Led by Jorge E. Chavarro, the study was conducted on 240 heterosexual couples taking part in in vitro fertilization treatments. It revealed an association between lower fertilization rates and couples where the male partner consumed a high amount of fruits and vegetables with high pesticide residues.
“We’re definitely seeing some signals that are consistent with the occupational literature, which I think suggests that exposure to humans within levels that are generally ‘safer’ may still have measurable health outcomes,” Chavarro said.
He added that the higher pesticide-exposed diet reduced couples’ chances of having a live birth during the course of their in vitro fertilization treatment.
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Growing Use of Antibiotics in Factory-farmed Animals Threatens Life-saving Medications
Environmental Working Group reported:
The sale of antibiotics for use in livestock grew by 10% between 2017 and 2023, further jeopardizing the effectiveness of these life-saving drugs for humans.
The overuse of antibiotics in farm animals makes them less effective as bacteria become more resistant, leading to almost 3 million illnesses and 35,000 deaths a year in the U.S. But sales of these drugs for use in factory-farmed animals went up from 5.6 million kilograms, or kg, in 2017 to 6.1 million kg in 2023, EWG found using data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
These antibiotics are classified as medically important for human use. Swine was the fastest-growing category of livestock getting these medications, rising from 2 million kg in 2017 to 2.7 million kg in 2023, a 33% increase. Sales for use in cattle also went up, from 2.3 million kg to 2.5 million kg, a growth rate of 8%. By contrast, the amount of medically important antibiotics sold for use in chickens has continued to fall.
The McDonald’s E. Coli Outbreak Was Worse Than We Thought
The scope of the McDonald’s E. coli outbreak has gotten larger. Health officials have reported a substantial increase in cases this week, with many more cases likely having gone unnoticed.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) first reported the outbreak in late October, which had initially affected at least 49 people in 10 states. As of the CDC’s latest update released Wednesday, there have now been 104 cases across 14 states, while 34 people have been hospitalized and one person has died.
Though more cases may yet emerge, the probable source of the outbreak has been identified — fresh slivered onions — and officials have said that the danger from these tainted onions has likely passed. But while this episode is largely over, it highlights that such outbreaks can quickly spin out of control, perhaps aided by the complexities of manufacturing and distribution practices within fast food chains. Insufficient or shoddy quality control could be another factor.
How Safe Is US Food? Experts’ Verdicts After Listeria, E. Coli Outbreaks
Food safety remains a pressing concern in the U.S. — the combination of vast food production networks and complex supply chains creates both opportunities and risks for contamination. Recently, two notable incidents — a listeria outbreak involving ready-to-eat meat products and an E. coli outbreak tied to McDonald’s — have underscored the need for consistent oversight and stronger preventive measures in food safety.
In October 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a listeria outbreak linked to prepackaged meat and chicken products distributed by BrucePac, a food production company based in Oregon.
The contaminated items, estimated to total over 160,000 pounds of meat, included pre-cooked meats such as chicken breasts, turkey, and pork, widely distributed to grocery stores, restaurants, and food service providers.
