The new Trump administration could be coming for your snacks.<\/p>\n
For years, the federal government has steered clear of regulating junk food, fast food, and ultra-processed food.<\/p>\n
Now attitudes are changing. Some members of President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s inner circle are gearing up to battle \u201cBig Food,\u201d or the companies that make most of the food and beverages consumed in the United States. Nominees for top health agencies are taking aim at ultra-processed foods that account for an estimated 70%<\/a> of the nation\u2019s food supply. Based on recent statements, a variety of potential politically charged policy options to regulate ultra-processed food may land on the Trump team menu, including warning labels, changes to agribusiness subsidies, and limits on which products consumers can buy with government food aid.<\/p>\n The push to reform the American diet is being driven largely by conservatives who have taken up the cause that has long been a darling of the left. Trump supporters such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose controversial nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services still faces Senate confirmation, are embracing a concept that champions natural foods and alternative medicine. It\u2019s a movement they\u2019ve dubbed \u201cMAHA,\u201d or Make America Healthy Again<\/a>. Their interest has created momentum because their goals have fairly broad bipartisan support even amid a bitterly divided Congress in which lawmakers from both sides of the aisle focused on the issue last year.<\/p>\n It\u2019s likely to be a pitched battle because the food industry wields immense political influence and has successfully thwarted previous efforts to regulate its products or marketing. The category of \u201cfood processing and sales companies,\u201d which includes Tyson Foods and Nestle SA, tallied $26.7 million in spending on lobbying in 2024, according to OpenSecrets<\/a>. That\u2019s up from almost $10 million in 1998.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have been absolutely instrumental and highly, highly successful at delaying any regulatory effectiveness in America,\u201d said Laura Schmidt, a health policy professor at the University of California-San Francisco. \u201cIt really does feel like there needs to be a moment of reckoning here where people start asking the question, \u2018Why do we have to live like this?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUltra-processed food<\/a>\u201d is a widely used term<\/a> that means different things to different people and is used to describe items ranging from sodas to many frozen meals. These products often contain added fats, starches, and sugars, among other things. Researchers say consumption of ultra-processed foods is linked \u2014 in varying levels of intensity \u2014 to chronic conditions like diabetes, cancer, mental health problems, and early death.<\/p>\n Nutrition and health leaders are optimistic that a reckoning is already underway. Kennedy has pledged to remove processed foods from school lunches, restrict certain food additives such as dyes in cereal, and shift federal agricultural subsidies away from commodity crops widely used in ultra-processed foods.<\/p>\n The intensifying focus in Washington has triggered a new level of interest on the legal front as lawyers explore cases to take on major foodmakers for selling products they say result in chronic disease.<\/p>\n Bryce Martinez, now 18, filed a lawsuit in December against almost a dozen foodmakers such as Kraft Heinz, The Coca-Cola Co., and Nestle USA. He developed diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by age 16, and is seeking to hold them accountable for his illnesses. According to the suit, filed in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, the companies knew or should have known ultra-processed foods were harmful and addictive.<\/p>\n The lawsuit noted that Martinez grew up eating heavily advertised, brand-name foods that are staples of the American diet \u2014 sugary soft drinks, Cheerios and Lucky Charms, Skittles and Snickers, frozen and packaged dinners, just to name a few.<\/p>\n Nestle, Coca-Cola, and Kraft Heinz didn\u2019t return emails seeking comment for this article. The Consumer Brands Association, a trade association for makers of consumer packaged goods, disputed the allegations.<\/p>\n \u201cAttempting to classify foods as unhealthy simply because they are processed, or demonizing food by ignoring its full nutrient content, misleads consumers and exacerbates health disparities,\u201d said Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of product policy, in a statement.<\/p>\n Other law firms are on the hunt for children or adults who believe they were harmed by consuming ultra-processed foods, increasing the likelihood of lawsuits.<\/p>\n One Indiana personal injury firm<\/a> says on its website that \u201cwe are actively investigating ultra processed food (UPF) cases.\u201d Trial attorneys in Texas also are looking into possible legal action against the federal regulators they say have failed to police ultra-processed foods.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you or your child have suffered health problems that your doctor has linked directly to the consumption of ultra-processed foods, we want to hear your story,\u201d they say on their website.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the FDA on Jan. 14 announced it is proposing to require a front-of-package label<\/a> to appear on most packaged foods to make information about a food\u2019s saturated fat, sodium, and added sugar content easily visible to consumers.<\/p>\n And on Capitol Hill, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) are sounding the alarm over ultra-processed food. Sanders introduced legislation in 2024<\/a> that could lead to a federal ban on junk food advertising to children, a national education campaign, and labels on ultra-processed foods that say the products aren\u2019t recommended for children. Booker cosigned the legislation along with Sens. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.).<\/p>\n The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a December hearing<\/a> examining links between ultra-processed food and chronic disease during which FDA Commissioner Robert Califf called for more funding for research.<\/p>\n Food companies have tapped into \u201cthe same neural circuits that are involved in opioid addiction,\u201d Califf said at the hearing.<\/p>\n Sanders, who presided over the hearing, said there\u2019s \u201cgrowing evidence\u201d that \u201cthese foods are deliberately designed to be addictive,\u201d and he asserted that ultra-processed foods have driven epidemics of diabetes and obesity, and hundreds of billions of dollars in medical expenses.<\/p>\n Research on food and addiction \u201chas accumulated to the point where it\u2019s reached a critical mass,\u201d said Kelly Brownell, an emeritus professor at Stanford who is one of the editors of a scholarly handbook<\/a> on the subject.<\/p>\n Attacks from three sides \u2014 lawyers, Congress, and the incoming Trump administration, all seemingly interested in taking up the fight \u2014 could lead to enough pressure to challenge Big Food and possibly spur better health outcomes in the U.S., which has the lowest life expectancy<\/a> among high-income countries.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe getting rid of highly processed foods in some things could actually flip the switch pretty quickly in changing the percentage of the American public that are obese,\u201d said Robert Redfield, a virologist who led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the previous Trump administration, in remarks at a December event<\/a> hosted by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.<\/p>\n Claims that Big Food knowingly manufactured and sold addictive and harmful products resemble the claims leveled against Big Tobacco before the landmark $206 billion settlement<\/a> was reached in 1998.<\/p>\n \u201cThese companies allegedly use the tobacco industry\u2019s playbook to target children, especially Black and Hispanic children, with integrated marketing tie-ins with cartoons, toys, and games, along with social media advertising,\u201d Rene Rocha<\/a>, one of the lawyers at Morgan & Morgan representing Martinez, told KFF Health News.<\/p>\n The 148-page Martinez lawsuit against foodmakers draws from documents made public in litigation against tobacco companies that owned some of the biggest brands in the food industry.<\/p>\n Similar allegations were made against opioid manufacturers, distributors, and retailers before they agreed to pay tens of billions of dollars in a 2021 settlement with states<\/a>.<\/p>\n The FDA ultimately put restrictions on the labeling and marketing of tobacco, and the opioid epidemic led to legislation that increased access to lifesaving medications to treat addiction.<\/p>\n But the Trump administration\u2019s zeal in taking on Big Food may face unique challenges.<\/p>\n The ability of the FDA to impose regulation is hampered in part by funding. While the agency\u2019s drug division collects industry user fees, its division of food relies on a more limited budget determined by Congress.<\/p>\n Change can take time because the agency moves at what some critics call a glacial pace. Last year, the FDA revoked a regulation<\/a> allowing brominated vegetable oil in food products. The agency determined in 1970 that the additive was not generally recognized as safe.<\/p>\n Efforts to curtail the marketing of ultra-processed food could spur lawsuits alleging that any restrictions violate commercial speech protected by the First Amendment. And Kennedy \u2014 if he is confirmed as HHS secretary \u2014 may struggle to get support from a Republican-led Congress that champions less federal regulation and a president-elect who during his previous term served fast food in the White House<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe question is, will RFK be able to make a difference?\u201d said David L. Katz, a doctor who founded True Health Initiative, a nonprofit group that combats public health misinformation. \u201cNo prior administration has done much in this space, and RFK is linked to a particularly anti-regulatory administration.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the U.S. population<\/a> is recognized as among the most obese in the world and has the highest rate of people with multiple chronic conditions among high-income countries.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a big grassroots effort out there because of how sick we are,\u201d said Jerold Mande<\/a>, who served as deputy undersecretary for food safety at the Department of Agriculture from 2009 to 2011. \u201cA big part of it is people shouldn\u2019t be this sick this young in their lives. You\u2019re lucky if you get to 18 without a chronic disease. It\u2019s remarkable.\u201d<\/p>\n KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\nUSE OUR CONTENT<\/h3>\n