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American Dish

Helena Bottemiller Evich

From Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” to Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign, America is in the midst of a food and nutrition policy awakening. Why are diet-related disease rates so high in the U.S.? What are the potential solutions? What does the science say? Award-winning journalist Helena Bottemiller Evich cuts through the noise to help us understand what’s really happening with our food system and our plates.

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#20
October 28 · 34 min
The case for defining ultra-processed foods with Dariush Mozaffarian and Lindsey Smith Taillie
The Trump administration says it wants to formally define ultra-processed foods — a move that could have big implications for food policy in the future. More than a year into the process, however, this effort has hit roadblocks at the White House amid major opposition from the food industry. My guests this week have been at the center of the push to get the definition out. Dariush Mozaffarian is a cardiologist, director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University, and author of the new book Food Is Medicine. Lindsey Smith Taillie is a nutrition epidemiologist at UNC Chapel Hill, co-director of the Global Food Research Program, and co-chair of an expert panel that came up with a consensus definition earlier this year. Both experts want to see the federal government move forward on this. A formal definition would give the USDA, the military, FDA, and the states a common starting point for policies relating to school meals, food labels, and procurement (and so much more). Highlights: – Why “ultra-processed” is still so confusing, and where the Nova classification came from – The case for defining UPFs around cosmetic additives, with exemptions for foods that meet FDA’s “healthy” definition – Inside the expert panel that turned a room full of opinions into a consensus definition – What happened to the draft definition that was supposed to come out in August – What Calley Means’ resignation says about the MAHA agenda – The growing patchwork of state UPF laws, and why industry should want a federal standard – What the trans fat ban and Chile’s food policies suggest about industry warnings of economic doom Where to find Dariush Mozaffarian: Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University Food Is Medicine, Dariush’s new book LinkedIn Where to find Lindsey Smith Taillie: Unjunked (Substack) Global Food Research Program at UNC LinkedIn Mentioned in this episode: Ultraprocessed Foods in the U.S.: Recommended Definitions and Policies, Healthy Eating Research expert panel report Nutrition experts press White House to release ultra-processed food definition (STAT) MAHA’s Calley Means resigns as a top RFK Jr. health adviser days before the midterm elections (AP via The Philadelphia Inquirer) Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#19
October 14 · 43 min
Rep. Chellie Pingree on why Democrats should work with MAHA
Seventy-three Republicans and 207 Democrats voted last April to successfully strip a pesticide liability shield out of the farm bill. The provision would have protected Bayer from billions in lawsuits over glyphosate and cancer, and ag interests fought hard to keep it in the legislation. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) says she’s never seen a win like it. It was a case where strange bedfellows teamed up and won big. MAHA activists and Democrats don’t agree on much, and many Democrats want nothing to do with the movement. Pingree has spent years working on food and farm issues, often feeling like she didn’t have much backup, and she sees the MAHA moment as a chance to finally win some of the bigger policy fights. Pingree has represented Maine’s 1st District since 2009 and sits on both the House Appropriations and Agriculture Committees. She was a certified organic farmer long before food policy was a rising political issue. Pingree does not align with the entire MAHA agenda (particularly not on vaccines), but she argues that Democrats should work with MAHA activists wherever their priorities overlap. Now she’s trying to convince her fellow Democrats that sitting this one out is a mistake. Highlights: – How a back-to-the-land homesteader and organic farmer ended up in Congress – Why she decided to work with MAHA activists – The new congressional “Fix Our Food” caucus she’s building to get more colleagues engaged – Why food and ag issues are going mainstream, and the unlikely candidates talking about cancer and water quality in Iowa – Her read on the midterms and what might come next – Why the farm bill is stalled in the Senate, and whether Congress can still get big things done – Her invitation to listeners: send her your policy ideas via email! Where to find Rep. Chellie Pingree: Official website Contact Rep. Pingree Instagram Facebook Bluesky X Mentioned in this episode: House votes to strip pesticide liability protections from the farm bill Congress reaches new level of dysfunction with farm bill, food safety failures (Food Fix) Real Organic Project Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#18
September 30 · 43 min
Media roundtable: MAHA meets the midterms with Liz Essley Whyte, Chelsea Cirruzzo, and Marcia Brown
This week, we have a great media roundtable with Marcia Brown, who covers food and agriculture at Politico; Chelsea Cirruzzo, Washington correspondent at STAT; and Liz Essley Whyte, health policy reporter at the Wall Street Journal. All three have broken big MAHA-related stories this year, and heading into the midterms, they’re watching whether this movement still has the political clout it had in 2024. We talk about how each of these reporters ended up covering MAHA, how their outlets approach covering the movement and the Trump administration, and so much more. Highlights: – Why HHS moved $12 million out of the Office of Minority Health as Secretary Kennedy's security costs climbed from $10 million to $17 million – Zach Lahn, the anti-Big Ag Republican running for Iowa governor, and his relationship with Kennedy – Whether MAHA can deliver votes in the midterms after falling short on parts of its national agenda – USDA winding down its cyclospora research during one of the largest outbreaks in recent history, and why "boring" ag research matters – What FDA nominee Heidi Overton, new HHS leadership, and Trump's renewed vaccine push mean – Where MAHA finds a political home next, as some Democrats start courting it – New "real food" stocking standards for SNAP retailers, and what they could mean for where people can use their SNAP benefits Where to find Marcia Brown: Politico Substack X Bluesky Where to find Chelsea Cirruzzo: STAT X LinkedIn Where to find Liz Essley Whyte: X Bluesky LinkedIn Mentioned in this episode: RFK Jr.'s Enhanced Security Was Funded With Money From Minority Health Office (Wall Street Journal) RFK Jr. sees mutual political benefit in MAHA boosting MAGA (STAT) USDA cyclospora research projects shelved amid funding cuts and relocations (Politico) Heidi Overton's FDA confirmation hearing (STAT) Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#17
September 16 · 52 min
The decade-long fight to get SNAP online with Nick Green
A long list of investors said no to Nick Green and his co-founders as they were trying to get Thrive Market off the ground. They were rejected so many times they eventually turned to the people who understood the problem they were trying to solve: moms, wellness influencers, and anyone else whose life had been shaped by not having a decent grocery store nearby. Twelve years later, their persistence paid off. Thrive Market has grown into a profitable, membership-based online grocer with 1.7 million paying members, hundreds of millions in annual sales, and a reputation as the Whole Foods-meets-Costco of e-commerce. Thrive Market was also an early advocate of piloting SNAP EBT benefits for online grocery purchases, pioneering a decade-long fight to take the policy nationwide. Nick Green is a co-founder and CEO of Thrive Market. We talk about that long SNAP fight, what's happening to enrollment right now as millions of households drop off the program, and Nick's case for why the market might be a faster route to change compared to policymaking. Highlights: The nearly decade-long fight to get SNAP EBT accepted online What the GOP reconciliation package changes for SNAP beneficiaries and states Why Thrive bans more than 1,000 ingredients How the company thinks about glyphosate, additives, and the murky definition of "ultra-processed." Where Nick thinks the private market can move faster than government on food dye and additive rules Where to find Nick Green: LinkedIn Thrive Market Thrive Market on Instagram Mentioned in this episode: USDA SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot Thrive Market becomes first online-only retailer to accept SNAP EBT Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#16
September 2 · 51 min
What the cyclospora outbreak tells us about food safety in America, with Bill Marler
It's been a rough summer for anyone paying attention to food safety in America. Every few days, it seems, we see new headlines about new recalls and foodborne illness outbreaks. And the media is paying a lot more attention to them on the heels of the big summer cyclospora outbreak tied to iceberg lettuce (which is now the largest foodborne outbreak we’ve had in three decades!) What’s going on? Is this the Trump administration to blame here, or has the system been broken for a long time? And what can we eat? To sort through it, we sat down with Bill Marler, widely considered the top food safety plaintiff's attorney in the country (and a thorn in the food industry’s side). Marler is also the founder of Food Safety News (where Helena used to work pre-2013) and is an outspoken advocate for stronger food safety regulations in the U.S. Marler's read on the current moment isn't exactly what you'd expect from an outspoken, left-leaning lawyer who spends his days suing food companies: he blames not just this administration, but more so Congress's decades-long unwillingness to stay on top of food safety policy and the funding needed to make real reform a reality. Highlights: – Roughly 32,000 people (by state counts) have been sickened by cyclospora this summer, and CDC estimates suggest the real number could be dramatically higher – Why the CEO of Taylor Farms is calling Bill Marler these days – Why cyclospora is so much harder to trace than E. coli or Salmonella – Marler connects the dots between the FDA's delayed food traceability rule, agency staffing cuts, and how long it took to identify Taylor Farms as the source – Fifty infants were hospitalized for botulism linked to contaminated infant formula last November, and it still hasn't gotten a single congressional hearing – Helena and Bill's takes on personal risk: how they each shop for produce Where to find Bill Marler: Marler Blog billmarler.com Mentioned in this episode: Food Safety News Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food (Netflix) Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#15
August 19 · 49 min
What's on the tray in America's prisons with Daniel Rosen and Leslie Soble
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. often talks about reforming prison food in the same breath as school food, a genuinely unusual thing for a top health official to say. At the same time, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has quietly put out requests for information about outsourcing food service to the same private companies that serve colleges, elementary schools, and military bases. Are these two positions aligned? What would it take to actually improve food served in prisons? Why does it matter? We dive into all of it with two of the country’s top experts in prison food. Daniel Rosen co-founded the Carceral Nutrition Project after six years incarcerated in Virginia and Washington, D.C. Leslie Soble is a folklorist and ethnographer whose research became Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison, which just won a James Beard Award (Soble is also a founding board member of the Carceral Nutrition Project). Together, Rosen and Soble lay out what's actually on the tray, who's profiting from it, and why the whole "you did the crime, you do the time" doesn't actually make sense when you consider how to feed incarcerated people. Highlights: Prison and jail systems spend $1.50 to $2 a day feeding someone, a fraction of what the federal school lunch reimbursement covers The wild imbalance between healthcare and food spending in correctional facilities How privatization works (about a third of prison food service is outsourced) The science connecting better nutrition to lower violence in correctional facilities What the Trump administration is/isn’t doing to reform prison food What national standards for prison food could actually look like Where to find Daniel Rosen and Leslie Soble: Carceral Nutrition Project Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison Additional Reading: "Private Food, Public Harm" — the CSPI/Carceral Nutrition Project report on privatized prison food service Gesch et al. (2002) Gesch, C.B., Hammond, S.M., Hampson, S.E., Eves, A., & Crowder, M.J. "Influence of supplementary vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids on the antisocial behaviour of young adult prisoners." British Journal of Psychiatry, 181, 22–28. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.181.1.22 Zaalberg et al. (2010) Zaalberg, A., Nijman, H., Bulten, E., Stroosma, L., & van der Staak, C. "Effects of nutritional supplements on aggression, rule-breaking, and psychopathology among young adult prisoners." Aggressive Behavior, 36(2), 117–126. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.20335 Schoenthaler & Bier (2000) Schoenthaler, S.J., & Bier, I.D. "The effect of vitamin-mineral supplementation on juvenile delinquency among American schoolchildren." Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 6(1), 7–17. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2000.6.7 Schoenthaler sugar studies (1980s) Schoenthaler, S.J. (1983). "The Alabama Diet-Behavior Program." International Journal of Biosocial Research, 5(2), 79–87. (Pre-DOI era; search via Google Scholar) Systematic review: dietary/nutritional interventions on behaviour and mental health of prisoners (2024) — 933 studies screened, 11 included; found consistent ~30% reductions in violence across intervention types. Australian pilot RCT on dietary supplementation and aggression in adult male prisoners (2020) — feasibility study for a larger omega-3/multivitamin RCT; prisoners below the 6% omega-3 index threshold were 4.3× more likely to have elevated aggression scores. Omega-3 multi-centre RCT protocol (2021) — pre-registered protocol for a large-scale replication of the Gesch/Zaalberg findings. Gut microbiota and mental health in new inmates (2022, PubMed) — inmates showed higher anxiety/depression scores and markedly shifted microbiome structure vs. controls; SCFA-producing genera depleted. Gut microbiome in impulsively violent female convicts (2021, Karger) Nutritional criminology: ultra-processed food and health/justice (2024, PMC) Crime and Nourishment: UPF, brain, and behavior — narrative review (MDPI) Is prison food really food? (2023, Health & Justice) — documents sodium/sugar-heavy, UPF-dominant prison diets and links to diabetes, mental health, and behavior. Nutrition associated with violent and criminal behaviors (2025, PMC) Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#14
July 22 · 49 min
Lessons from a 13-year old lobbying for gluten labeling, with Jon and Jax Bari
At the 2023 HHS Food Is Medicine Summit, one item on the buffet was considered safe for 10-year-old Jax Bari to eat: an apple. Everything else was a gamble because gluten isn't required on food labels in the U.S. the way it is in 87 other countries. For someone with celiac disease, that disclosure means a whole lot — a tiny bit of gluten can mean days of vomiting, diarrhea and severe pain. Jax is now 13, and he's still on a mission to convince Washington that gluten labeling should be mandatory. He and his dad, Jon Bari, founded the non-profit Celiac Journey, and have spent the past several years lobbying both the Biden and Trump administrations. They’ve filed a citizen petition with the FDA, met with lawmakers, and even cornered the FDA commissioner in an elevator — all in pursuit of one specific ask: add gluten to the FDA's list of major food allergens. Highlights: – Jax's advocacy started with a second-grade persuasive-letter assignment addressed to David Muir, which turned into national ABC News coverage and a White House invitation. – The FDA's January 2026 request for information on gluten labeling drew more than 6,000 public comments, with about 99.5% in support. – Per Jon Bari: The opposition includes the Consumer Brands Association and, more surprisingly, the Celiac Disease Foundation itself, which is funded by General Mills, the largest oat seller in the U.S. – Three possible paths forward are now on the table: Secretary Kennedy's existing rulemaking authority, a potential executive order, or new legislation, including the bipartisan Faster Act and the separately introduced Celiac Safety Act. Where to find Jon and Jax Bari: Celiac Journey Instagram: @celiacjourney Instagram: @glutenfreefinds_pa Mentioned in this episode: FDA Request for Information on gluten labeling (Federal Register) Celiac Safety Act of 2026, H.R. 9048 (Congress.gov) "The great sesame debacle" — Food Fix Jax Bari's David Muir/ABC News "World News Tonight" segment Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#13
July 8 · 45 min
Inside the race to understand America’s growing food allergy epidemic with Ilana Golant
Ten percent of Americans are estimated to have food allergies — and that’s probably an undercount. The government hasn't updated its population data in nearly a decade, so the real figure could be more like 12 or even 15 percent. Despite the scale of food allergies, food allergy research gets a small fraction of the funding devoted to comparable chronic diseases — and the gap has stayed remarkably persistent even as public and political attention has increased. Ilana Golant, founder and CEO of the non-profit Food Allergy Fund, is on a mission to close this gap. Food allergies are common, so why are they being funded like a rare disease? Food Allergy Fund advocates for more federal research funding and also directly funds microbiome research, drug repurposing trials, and work to develop new AI diagnostic tools for allergy testing, among other research. Ilana didn't come to this work through a traditional public health career path — she came to it as a mom and also as a patient with food allergies. Highlights: – Why 75 percent of food allergy kids under 12 now have multiple food allergies, and what happened to "the peanut-allergic kid" – The funding gap between food allergies and comparable chronic diseases, broken down per patient – What early allergen introduction did and didn't do to change allergy rates for children – Inside the Food Allergy Fund's drug repurposing program and cutting edge microbiome research – Why so many food allergy clinical trials are now running in Australia instead of the U.S. – The growing problem of unlabeled allergens hiding in medications – How the sesame labeling law backfired, and ended up putting sesame in more foods, not fewer – Alpha-gal syndrome, ticks creeping into city parks, and the rise of adult-onset food allergies Where to find Ilana Golant: Food Allergy Fund website Food Allergy Fund on Instagram Mentioned in this episode: The ADINA Act Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#12
June 24 · 49 min
Why millions of people are dropping from SNAP and what comes next, with Gina Plata-Nino
More than 4 million people have dropped out of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the past year — an unprecedented drop that hasn’t gotten much attention in the media. As SNAP Director at the Food Research and Action Center, Gina Plata-Nino is tracking all of this very closely. FRAC fought hard against the $187 billion in SNAP cuts Congress passed through reconciliation last July. That legislation made it much harder (and in some cases impossible) for certain individuals to access SNAP and left states staring down billions in new costs they weren't expecting to carry. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has stopped measuring food insecurity rates. New data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York indicates hunger levels are higher today than at the peak of the pandemic. Gina came to this work from the ground up — through legal aid in Massachusetts, representing clients who couldn't navigate a benefits system so complex it sometimes requires a lawyer to navigate it. She ultimately landed as a senior advisor in the Biden White House where she helped build the national strategy on hunger, nutrition, and health. Now she's at FRAC, fighting to protect access to SNAP, a program that helps feed nearly 37 million people. Highlights: – Who uses SNAP, and what the program's average recipient earns per month – The reconciliation law passed last July (the biggest cuts to SNAP in history) and how states are scrambling to prepare – Why Arizona's SNAP participation has dropped nearly 50% – Why some states may stop running SNAP entirely – What the FNS relocation to regional hubs — now renamed the Food and Nutrition Administration — means for the 16 nutrition programs that serve one in four Americans – SNAP restrictions: how half the states now have waivers to ban certain products, and why FRAC believes the evaluations are inadequate – New York Fed data showing hunger now exceeds pandemic-era levels, and why USDA's decision to stop measuring food insecurity makes this even more alarming Where to find Gina Plata-Nino: On LinkedIn FRAC.org Gina's work at FRAC Mentioned in this episode: FRAC statement opposing FNS/FNA relocation New York Fed: More people are going hungry now than at the height of the pandemic (NPR) FRAC: Shifting the Burden — How Reconciliation Reshapes SNAP and Strains State Budgets FRAC: Food security supplement and why it is needed FRAC: Backgrounder on quality control and payment error rates Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#11
June 10 · 1 hr 8 min
Media roundtable: Covering MAHA with Tal Kopan, Deena Shanker, and Lisa Held
This episode is something a little different: a roundtable with three journalists who've been deep in this moment in food policy, talking frankly about what they're seeing as MAHA's promises meet the reality of governing in Washington. Tal Kopan, deputy Washington bureau chief for The Boston Globe, has been reporting on the politics and also the money behind MAHA. Deena Shanker covers food for Bloomberg Businessweek and recently wrote about MAHA's school lunch ambitions colliding with funding cuts. Lisa Held is a senior reporter at Civil Eats, where she runs the Food Policy Tracker and just finished a four-part investigative series on what USDA cuts have meant for small farms and local food systems. We go behind the scenes on what it’s like to cover MAHA in this moment — and what comes next. Highlights: – How food dyes became the issue that pulled MAHA into the mainstream – The political and financial infrastructure being built behind MAHA, and what it suggests about Kennedy's long-term ambitions – Why MAHA's vision for school meals is running headlong into the administration's own budget cuts – What USDA's cuts to local food programs mean for small farms, and why those cuts are seen as anti-MAHA – The tension between MAHA as a federal policy driver versus MAHA as a growing grassroots movement at the state level – What reporters are watching next: Iowa's governor's race, Vani Hari's next political move, and whether MAHA survives its own contradictions Where to find our guests: Tal Kopan's reporting at The Boston Globe | @TalKopan on X | @TalKopan on Bluesky Deena Shanker's reporting at Bloomberg | @deenashanker.bsky.social on Bluesky | LinkedIn Lisa Held's reporting at Civil Eats | @lisaelaineh on X | Civil Eats Food Policy Tracker | @lisaelaineh on Instagram Mentioned in this episode: Meet Tony Lyons, the man building RFK Jr.'s MAHA empire — Tal Kopan, The Boston Globe Group that supports RFK Jr. wants to change media messages on public health — Tal Kopan, The Boston Globe MAHA's Hopes for Healthier School Lunches Collide With Trump's Spending Cuts — Deena Shanker, Bloomberg Losing Ground: How Trump Is Setting Back Local Food and Small Farms — Lisa Held, Civil Eats This USDA Program Transformed Food Systems. It's Gone. — Lisa Held, Civil Eats USDA Cuts Dismantled a Program Helping Local Food Economies — Lisa Held, Civil Eats Trump's USDA Revamped the Climate-Smart Program in a Blow to Many Small Farms — Lisa Held, Civil Eats MAHA candidate beats Trump's pick in Iowa Republican primary for governor — PBS News Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#10
May 27 · 1 hr
Meet the billionaire trying to clean up the food supply: Todd Wagner.
Todd Wagner, a tech billionaire and Hollywood mogul best known for co-founding Broadcast.com with Mark Cuban, isn’t particularly well known in food world — but he’s increasingly having a big impact. Wagner first got interested in American food policy after noticing his migraines would all but disappear when he traveled to Europe. He did some research and realized that the U.S. was letting thousands of food additives onto the market without regulatory oversight. In 2023, Wagner and film producer Lori McCreary launched FoodFight USA, a non-partisan non-profit aimed at cleaning up the U.S. food supply. Since then, Wagner and his team have played an integral role in passing historic state food additive bans and are also pressing Washington to revamp food additive oversight nationwide. In this conversation, Wagner shares some behind-the-scenes details from meeting with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He sees the fight against ultra-processed foods as similar to the fight against Big Tobacco: long, messy, and ultimately winnable. Highlights: – The inside story of urging Governor Newsom to sign the California Food Safety Act – What GRAS actually is, why Wagner calls it the linchpin of America's food crisis, and why no other country has an equivalent – The fight over New York's GRAS disclosure bill and what it would actually require of food companies – Why Wagner thinks the Big Tobacco playbook maps almost perfectly onto ultra-processed foods – Using AI to triage tens of thousands of food chemicals for post-market safety review – Front-of-pack labeling, the black octagon, and why warning labels matter even if they can't fix everything – The "real cost" of a can of Coke: subsidies, SNAP, downstream healthcare, and margin-stacking against smaller, healthier brands Where to find Todd Wagner: Food Fight USA Food Fight USA on Instagram Food Fight USA on X Mentioned in this episode: California Food Safety Act New York Food Safety and Chemical Disclosure Act Yuka food scanning app Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (documentary) Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#9
May 13 · 45 min
What Big Food wants in the ultra-processed foods debate, with Rocco Renaldi
The debate about ultra-processed foods is loud in America right now, but zoom out, and it's everywhere. Governments around the world are trying to figure out what to do about diet-related disease, and the food and beverage industry is under pressure at every turn. Rocco Renaldi is secretary general of the International Food and Beverage Alliance, the group that brings together some of the world's biggest multinational food companies — Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Mondelēz — for coordinated action on nutrition and public health. He's also an executive at Edelman and is based in Brussels, which gives him a vantage point on these debates that we don’t hear as much stateside. Highlights: – Why the industry sees the UPF debate as a threat to the work already done on product reformulation – What the science does and doesn't tell us about processing as a health risk – Whether a workable, science-based UPF definition is even possible, and who's likely to define it first – How voluntary commitments like global trans fat elimination and salt reduction are going – What MAHA and RFK Jr.'s rhetoric look like from Brussels – GLP-1 drugs as a market force versus warning labels as a policy tool Where to find Rocco Renaldi: International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA) Mentioned in this episode: NOVA food classification system — the processing-based framework at the center of the UPF debate What we still don't know about ultra-processed foods with Julia Belluz & Kevin Hall — my earlier conversation with the NIH researcher who studied ultra-processed foods in controlled settings California's work on UPF definitions in school meals — the state's ongoing effort to restrict the most harmful ultra-processed foods from school food programs Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#8
April 29 · 57 min
Nora LaTorre on why school lunch is the biggest lever for children's health
Schools are the largest restaurant chain in America, bigger than Subway, Starbucks, and McDonald's combined. Nearly 100,000 locations, 30 million kids, and roughly 7 billion meals a year. Right now, the lion’s share of the calories served through this system are ultra-processed at a time when there’s growing concern about chronic diseases among children. Nora LaTorre is the CEO of Eat Real, a nonprofit that's transforming school meals scale — certifying school districts against doctor-developed standards and helping food service leaders pivot to fresher, more local, more scratch-cooked food. Since 2019, the organization has grown from one district in one state to more than a million kids across 21 states. This expansion has put LaTorre and her organization at the center of an active debate about what the future of school meals should look like in the U.S. Highlights: – How Eat Real's certification model works and what the two-year journey looks like for school districts – Why better food means more kids eat school lunch (which means more revenue) – The story behind California's AB 1264, which passed with near-unanimous bipartisan support – LaTorre’s take on how federal preemption is a serious threat to food policy progress – What the MAHA moment means for school food – What parents can do to support change at their local school – The infrastructure gap: transforming school food nationally could require tens of billions in kitchen investment Where to find Nora LaTorre: Eat Real Parent resources at eatreal.org/parents Follow Nora on Instagram (@nourishedwithnora) and LinkedIn Mentioned in this episode: AB 1264 — California's school food bill Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#7
April 15 · 48 min
The food industry's MAHA moment with Melissa Hockstad
HHS Secretary Kennedy says the food industry is poisoning us. The White House shares AI videos of him body slamming a Twinkie. And somehow, the trade group representing the companies making those ultra-processed foods — and thousands of other products Americans buy every day — has to figure out how to respond. The Consumer Brands Association represents the CPG industry, not just food and beverage, but household products and personal care too. It's the largest manufacturing sector in the U.S. by employment — 22.3 million workers, contributing $2.3 trillion to the GDP. And right now, it's contending with one of the most hostile political environments it's ever faced. Melissa Hockstad, the president and CEO of CBA, is at the center of navigating all of this. She's talking about constructive engagement, transparency, and the long game as major food companies try to stay out of the political wrestling ring, at least publicly. Highlights: – How CBA is approaching the Trump administration's anti-Big Food rhetoric, and where they see room for common ground – The Facts Up Front and SmartLabel programs, and why the industry sees transparency on its own terms as a selling point –How MAHA laws in Texas, West Virginia, and beyond have the industry turning to the courts and to Congress – Why CBA thinks "ultra-processed foods" is too complex to define, and what that means for policy – Front-of-pack labeling: where the Biden-era proposed rule stands now and what to expect from FDA under the Trump administration – The affordability argument is not landing the way the industry hoped at the state level Where to find Melissa Hockstad: Follow Melissa Hockstad on LinkedIn Mentioned in this episode: Consumer Brands Association Facts Up Front SmartLabel Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#6
April 1 · 46 min
Why infant formula is not a niche issue with Mallory Whitmore, The Formula Mom
Infant formula isn't some niche parenting topic. It's a public health issue, a food security issue, and in many ways an infrastructure issue. The 2022 infant formula crisis was one of the most alarming food system failures in recent memory. Shelves were suddenly empty. Parents were driving across state lines to find cans of formula. The Department of Defense was flying it in on military planes. And most of us — including me — realized we knew almost nothing about how infant formula actually works, where it comes from, or how consolidated the industry really is. Mallory Whitmore, known online as @theformulamom, has spent the last five years building the resource she couldn't find when she needed it most. As an infant feeding technician and now the education lead at Bobbie, a U.S. formula company, she's become one of the most influential voices on formula in the country. With more than 200,000 Instagram followers and a new book, Bottle Service, Mallory aims to give parents guilt-free, evidence-based guidance they're rarely getting anywhere else. Most parents use formula at some point before their babies turn one — it’s high time we stop treating formula as a niche topic. Highlights: – What Mallory learned (and all the info she couldn't find) when breastfeeding didn't work for her first daughter – What it was like to be in the middle of the 2022 Abbott recall, the crisis that exposed just how fragile the U.S. formula supply chain really is – The shame and stigma around formula feeding, and why "breast is best" messaging isn't landing the way it's intended – What parents should actually look for in a formula – Lactose, corn syrup solids, and other misunderstood ingredients – Why some parents believe European formulas are superior, what's actually different, and the real risks of importing your own – Operation Stork Speed: the FDA's first serious look at updating infant formula nutrition standards in decades, and whether the panel's expert guidance will actually translate into policy Where to find Mallory Whitmore: Follow Mallory Whitmore on Instagram Check out her book Bottle Service Mentioned in this episode: Operation Stork Speed Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#5
March 18 · 50 min
What we still don't know about ultra-processed foods with Julia Belluz & Kevin Hall
The American diet has become dominated by ultra-processed foods, but it’s taken a while for scientists to even begin to understand what this really means for our health. One of the researchers at the cutting edge of our nascent understanding is Kevin Hall. A physicist by training, Hall spent 21 years at NIH becoming the country's foremost nutrition scientist before resigning from the agency in 2025. Julia Belluz is an award-winning health journalist and contributing opinion writer at the New York Times who has done some of the best reporting on nutrition and obesity anywhere. Together, they wrote Food Intelligence — an Economist Book of the Year. It's one of the most honest and nuanced books about food and nutrition I've read in a long time, and this conversation reflects that. Highlights: – Kevin's landmark 2019 NIH clinical trial: how it was designed, what it found, and why it was so controversial – Why nutrition science is so underfunded — and how that created a vacuum filled by industry, influencers, and ideology – The MAHA paradox: a movement with the right rhetoric (sometimes) but lacking serious investment in the science to back it up – What the continuous glucose monitor and biohacking craze gets wrong – How food environments (not willpower) drive what we eat, and what changing them would actually require – Kevin's firsthand account of being censored as a government scientist and why he ultimately left NIH after 21 years – What systemic change could actually look like: SNAP reform, marketing restrictions, and making healthy food genuinely competitive Where to find Kevin Hall & Julia Belluz: Check out their book Food Intelligence Kevin Hall’s website Follow him on Instagram Julia Belluz’s website Follow her on Instagram Mentioned in this episode: Kevin Hall's 2019 ultra-processed foods clinical trial — Cell Metabolism How Washington Keeps America Sick and Fat — Helena's 2019 Politico investigation on nutrition research underfunding Kevin Hall's departure from NIH — CNN Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#4
March 6 · 38 min
FDA's food agenda, one year in with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary
The FDA is nearly a year into its MAHA era. The rhetoric has been bold — food dyes, ultra-processed foods, infant formula, GRAS reform. But what's actually happened? And what might still be coming? Helena got down to brass tacks with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary during a fireside chat on stage at the National Food Policy Conference in Washington, D.C. Commissioner Makary came into this role as a surgical oncologist and researcher who spent decades at Johns Hopkins — and who had already written extensively about food and nutrition before taking the job (unusual for an FDA commissioner). In this conversation, they cover a lot of ground: the plan to phase out synthetic food dyes, the coming definition for ultra-processed foods, the overhaul of infant formula standards, GRAS reform, and what front-of-pack labeling might actually look like under this administration. Highlights: – Makary sees the food side of FDA as one of the biggest opportunities of his tenure; he thinks it's been under-appreciated for years – The plan to phase out petroleum-based synthetic food dyes – FDA's coming definition for ultra-processed foods, expected by April or May, and how it might factor into labeling – Rethinking front-of-pack labeling: why this administration isn't planning to just move forward with the Biden-era proposal – Overhauling the infant formula monograph for the first time in decades – GRAS reform: where the proposed rule stands and what Makary says about FDA's authority to close the loophole – How AI is being used to speed up scientific reviews and help target inspections Where to find Commissioner Makary: Dr. Makary’s website @DrMakaryFDA on X Mentioned in this episode: Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health by Marty Makary Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#3
March 4 · 1 hr 10 min
Sam Kass on climate change and the Michelle Obama era
Sam Kass calls RFK Jr. "the greatest threat to public health this country has ever faced." He’s not joking. Sam led Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign, served as senior policy advisor in the Obama White House, and fought some of the most brutal food policy battles in recent memory. He knows what it takes to enact regulation and how hard industry will fight to protect its interests. Hearing MAHA panic about seed oils and food dyes while the administration weakens the FDA and CDC all while championing beef tallow french fries is downright alarming, he says. And that’s before we even get to the fact that the Trump administration is moving backward on responding to the climate crisis, which is the focus of his latest book, The Last Supper. Sam doesn’t hold back in this interview. Heads up for those with kids: There are some expletives in this conversation. Highlights: – How Big Potato fought the White House over what counts as a vegetable in school lunch and WIC – The reason why Sam's first cookbook didn't include white potatoes – The trans fat ban fight – How climate change has moved from future threat to present crisis – Why seed oils and food dyes are a distraction from what actually matters for public health – Fact-checking the narrative that Michelle Obama "caved to industry" – Democrats lost the food issue to Republicans — can they get it back? Where to find Sam Kass: Follow Sam Kass on Instagram Check out his book, The Last Supper Mentioned in this episode: Bold Fork Books The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 Marion Nestle's Food Politics blog Fed Up documentary COP 21 Paris Climate Agreement How I Built This: Spindrift — Bill Creelman Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#2
March 4 · 54 min
Inside the MAHA movement with Vani Hari
She says she hates politics. She's also been on the White House lawn with the FDA commissioner, helped pressure food companies to drop artificial dyes, and is now one of the most influential voices within the Make America Healthy Again movement. Vani Hari, better known as the Food Babe, built a massive following pressuring food companies to ditch controversial ingredients long before MAHA was a thing. How did she go from an activist food blogger to one of the most dominant forces in food policy? Note: This interview originally aired on Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with Theodore Ross with the Food and Environment Reporting Network. Helena and Ted spoke with Vani in late January — before the glyphosate executive order dropped and before Vani announced a rally at the Supreme Court. Highlights: – The glyphosate fault line - why the Trump administration’s alignment with Bayer in a Supreme Court case has infuriated MAHA advocates, and what Vani thinks should actually happen – The farm lobby is a much harder target than Big Food, and what that means for MAHA's agenda – MAHA's political future may hinge on what happens at the EPA before the midterms – Comparing American food ingredients to their European counterparts has become a potent political argument Where to find Vani Hari: Food Babe website Vani Hari on Instagram Mentioned in this episode: Forked podcast Trump executive order on glyphosate/Defense Production Act New Dietary Guidelines Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.
#1
March 4 · 45 min
MAHA promised change. Marion Nestle isn't buying it.
The Trump administration says we're being poisoned by our food system. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talks about ultra-processed foods, pesticides, and corporate capture of our health agencies. It's rhetoric that in many ways sounds like it came straight from the progressive food movement. Marion Nestle helped build that movement — and so far she's not impressed. An emerita professor at New York University, Nestle is 89, has written 17 books about food policy, founded the field of food politics, and writes the must-read blog foodpolitics.com. She's earned the right to be blunt. And in this conversation, she is. Highlights: – Marion's career journey and how food politics became a field of study – How to identify ultra-processed foods – Why it took so long for UPFs to become part of the conversation – The gap between MAHA rhetoric and policy reality – GLP-1 drugs as an existential threat to the food industry – The dietary guidelines' inherent conflicts (promoting agriculture vs. telling people to eat less) – School food funding and why every school should have a garden – What Marion would actually do if she were in charge of food policy Editorial note: We recorded this conversation before the Trump administration released the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030. Where to find Marion Nestle: Sign up for her must-read daily blog at foodpolitics.com Check out her latest book, What to Eat Now Other books by Marion Nestle Mentioned in this episode: The Lancet series on ultra-processed foods Kevin Hall's NIH research/clinical trials on ultra-processed foods The latest MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) report Marion Nestle's 2013 article about GRAS GRAS reform proposal heads to White House for review Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix. Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co Check out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.

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