Report: White House Stalls Kennedy's Push for a Federal Definition of Ultra-Processed Food

Our account says the Journal reported that three parts of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s food agenda have been held up. The biggest is described as the first federal definition of ultra-processed food. The others are described as a stricter USDA school-meals rule and a letter backing David Kessler's petition to declare some refined carbohydrates unsafe.

As relayed to us, health officials wanted any food containing artificial colors, nonnutritive sweeteners or chemical preservatives to count as ultra-processed, with some exemptions. White House staff are said to have worried the definition would cover most grocery-store food and help lawyers already suing food companies.

The account says the White House canceled a planned August announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services days before it was due, then blocked a second attempt. It also says White House regulatory lawyer Mark Paoletta saw the rule as new red tape and a potential boon to trial lawyers. We could not verify either detail.

The same account says the school-meals rule would have cost about $2 billion, roughly four times the earlier projection. We have not seen the underlying figures.

The industry and public health sides are described as disagreeing sharply. General Mills CEO Jeff Harmening is quoted as saying, "Categorizing foods by how they're processed is wrongheaded and can lead to opposite outcomes." Public health advocate Jerold Mande is quoted as saying, "We have the shortest lifespans of any wealthy country. It's an urgent problem." We could not check either quote against the original, so treat them as unverified.

For shoppers, the practical point is our own suggestion, not something from the reporting: if no federal definition exists, no official line separates ultra-processed foods from the rest, and the ingredient list on the package is one tool you can use. The categories the health officials reportedly proposed to target are artificial colors, nonnutritive sweeteners and chemical preservatives, which would appear on such a list. This is the weakest part of the piece: it rests on the unconfirmed report and is a reading suggestion, not evidence about health outcomes.

This article is based on a Wall Street Journal report as relayed by the Genetic Literacy Project. We could not fetch the Genetic Literacy Project page or the Journal's text. Every detail here comes from secondhand internal research notes, not from our own reading of either piece, and none of it has been independently checked.

Watch for whether HHS makes another attempt at a definition, and whether the White House allows it to proceed.

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