In an Oct. 17 Penn LDI virtual seminar on national food policy, three top experts mapped an evidence-based path from rhetoric to results, urging mandatory sodium reduction, simple front-of-package warnings, and revenue-raising soda taxes at the same time they warned that SNAP cost shifts and new restrictions could deepen hunger and stigma unless paired with stronger benefits, fresh food incentives, and school meal investments that push menus toward minimally processed foods for the nation’s children.
“I remember when the Biden Administration put out a health, hunger, and nutrition report and when I read it, I was crestfallen because it wasn’t pushing the envelope,” Dr. Christina Roberto said. “But when I picked up this MAHA report, the narrative and language and list of goals were solid. It’s not like I think this stuff is going to happen, but I have to say it is a list of things that I would have made. It included big changes that we almost never see in this conversation about government food programs, school lunches, and minimally processed foods. I don’t buy into Kennedy’s vision on vaccines, but I do buy a lot into his vision of removing ultra-processed foods.”