The USDA is engaged in a concerted effort to reduce enrollment in SNAP, even though people who qualify are entitled to benefits. Assigning food stamps (SNAP) to the USDA was a mistake from the get go, but once SNAP was part of the Farm Bill it seemed to make sense.  SNAP takes up most of the USDA's budget, the blue in this figure.

As of November 14, the FDA says 23 infants have botulism most likely as a result of exposure to ByHeart Whole Nutrition infant formula. In its most recent letter to customers, ByHeart is finally taking some responsibility for this disaster. When I wrote about this on November 12, I tried hard to give ByHeart the benefit of the doubt. 

Today, the Lancet publishes three major papers on ultra-processed foods and human health: science, policy, and politics (I am a co-author on the policy and politics papers).  Here's Peter Bond's photo, the logo for the series. THE PAPERS I.  SCIENCE Ultra-processed foods and human health: the main thesis and the evidence. Carlos A Monteiro, Maria LC Louzada, Euridice Steele-Martinez, Geoffrey Cannon, Giovanna C Andrade, Phillip Baker, Maira Bes-Rastrollo, Marialaura Bonaccio, Ashley N Gearhardt, Neha Khandpur, Marit Kolby, Renata B Levy, Priscila P Machado, Jean-Claude Moubarac, Leandro F M Rezende, Juan A Rivera, Gyorgy Scrinis, Bernard Srour, Boyd Swinburn, Mathilde Touvier.

It's a brave new world out there and I'm not having an easy time with it. I've already told you about the DeepFake Instagram post using my image. Now, there's more! Would you believe DeepFake books? When I went on the Amazon book site on the publication date for What to Eat Now (November 11), my new book was listed first, …

Pet food?  Yes, pet food. I subscribe to Pet Food Industry, an exceptionally intelligent and informative newsletter. This piece caught my eye: Study: Farmer's Dog finds fresh dog food boosts hydration more than kibble. One great thing about this publication is that its writers get right to the point: Company published research showing fresh diets increase total water intake in dogs compared to dry food.

Several readers have written to ask for links to media appearances related to What to Eat Now.   I've been trying to keep a list.  Here's what I have so far.  Enjoy and thanks for asking! Nov 12: Nutrition Action, Bonnie Liebman Nov 11:  NPR's Fresh Air, Tonya Mosley (audio). Transcript. Nov 11:  Amanpour & Co (video). Excerpt. Nov 11: …

As I noted last May, I get asked all the time about what they will say, but have no inside information.  But this may be a good time to go over the clues. The process A scientific advisory committee reviews the research and writes a report.  This was released in December. Unspecified (to date) people in USDA and HHS write the guidelines.

I first learned about this from food safety lawyer Bill Marler: Botulism Alert: ByHeart—brand powdered infant formula linked to 13 illnesses in 10 states. All 13 cases included in this outbreak are reported to have consumed ByHeart-brand powdered infant formula. Officials in several states have collected leftover infant formula for testing. This testing is underway, and results are not yet available.

Today marks the official publication of my new book, What to Eat Now!  All 703 pages of it! Order it---ISBN 9780374608699---from Amazon   Barnes & Noble   Books-a-Million   Bookshop   Powells   Target It's a thoroughly revised version of What to Eat, published in 2006. A lot has changed, much more than I imagined when I set out to do this.  I thought it would be a six-month project, but it's now four years later.

In case it's not obvious, I view studies claiming major health benefits from eating one food---mangoes in this case---to be about marketing, not science.  We don't eat just one food; we eat diets of enormous complexity.  This makes such studies inherently ridiculous.  And I'm not the only one who thinks so.  Some examples: I.  Insulin sensitivity This one comes from…

I just got my first copy!  My new book, What to Eat Now!  All 703 pages of it! The official publication date is November 11, but it can be pre-ordered.  ISBN 9780374608699. Amazon   Barnes & Noble   Books-a-Million   Bookshop   Powells   Target   It comes hardbound and in Kindle and Audible editions. Enjoy! Early press coverage Washington Post interview with Anahad O'Connor NBC4 Washington Kirkus Review (starred review)

I wish USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins would use less inflammatory language in making her announcements.  They sound right out of George Orwell's 1984---or the 1950s McCarthy era---and do not speak well for American democracy. Let's start with the banner at the top of USDA websites.  If nothing else, it violates the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from partisan public statements.

I've been trying to keep track of what's happening with SNAP, but it hasn't been easy. Fortunately, Jerry Hagstrom's Hagstrom's Report "Ag News As It Happens" does the heavy lifting. But first, a brief recap. The current government shutdown is about SNAP benefits.  Republicans want to cut benefits; Democrats don't. The Trump administration said it could not use emergency funds to pay SNAP benefits during the shutdown, because Congress has not appropriated money for SNAP for fiscal year 2026.

I first read about this in Food Business News: New coalition targets ‘ingredient transparency’ Major food, agricultural and consumer products trade groups and companies have given their support to Americans for Ingredient Transparency (AFIT), a new policy advocacy coalition seeking a uniform national standard for ingredient transparency...With many states now enacting or considering their own ingredient transparency laws, the goal is to avoid the emergence of “an ever-expanding patchwork of disjointed food, beverage and personal care regulations” that would sow confusion among US consumers, the coalition said.

Several readers have sent me Instagram posts that include videos of me arguing in favor of not eating breakfast , fasting, or promoting wellness products.  These more-or-less look like me speaking, and more-or-less sound like me. But they are not my words or opinions. They are fakes produced by Artificial Intelligence. If you run across such videos of me on Instagram or elsewhere, please…

Halloween, no matter its origins and promotion of costumes, means only one thing to the candy industry: sales. And plenty of detailed research helps that along. America’s Halloween Sweet Tooth: Instacart’s 2025 Candy & Decor Trends: Who loads up on candy the most? Since Utah’s first full year on the Instacart platform, Utah has once again decisively claimed the crown, buying candy 50% more often than the national average in October 2024.

This runs from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m, New York Academy of Medicine, 1216 5th Ave. Agenda to follow.  Register here.

The Institute for Food Technology , which publishes Food Technology, has been exploring the growing challenge of misinformation and the importance of building public trust in food science. Alongside highlights from IFT FIRST sessions on myth busting and consumer trust, it features Food Technology contributors and thought leaders examining how transparency, empathy, and effective communication can help bridge the gap between scientific evidence and public perception.

From last week's The Guardian: "Inside the Republican network behind big soda’s bid to pit Maga against Maha: A Guardian investigation finds the US soda and snack-food industries, threatened by RFK Jr’s movement to change Americans’ eating habits, have turned to a group of well-connected strategists, shadowy pollsters and ‘anti-woke’ influencers." The ongoing influence campaign is being spearheaded by the American Beverage Association with help from the Consumer Brands Association, two prominent trade groups in the food industry.

The September 22 New Yorker had an article titled "Mommy Issues," a profile of an influencer in the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. I was stopped cold by its quoted comment from Del Bigtree, "an anti-vaccine activist who had served as the communications director of Kennedy's Presidential campaign." At a MAHA Action dinner in Washington, DC, Bigtree offered a toast to RFK, Jr, and…

When I see a study with a title like this, my first question is "Who paid for this study?" The title:  Association of Egg Intake With Alzheimer’s Dementia Risk in Older Adults: The Rush Memory and Aging Project. The Journal of Nutrition Volume 154, Issue 7, July 2024, Pages 2236-2243. The study: It collected dietary data by food frequency questionnaire from older adults (average age 81) and assessed Alzheimer's dementia after nearly 7 years of follow up.

CivilEats' Lisa Held writes: The Industry Ties Within Trump’s Food and Ag Leadership: Many of the president’s top officials at the USDA, EPA, HHS, and FDA have connections to chemical, agribusiness, or fossil fuel interests. Really?  Yes.  And the list is long. As Lisa describes the situation, The picture of influence is all the more noteworthy because no president has been louder…

A reader in Texas, Jennifer Windh, wrote me about food practices in her kid's suburban Houston elementary school.  She reports: Many elementary school cafeterias are selling students ice cream and other junk food for lunch. This is happening in my school district and several nearby, and I suspect it's fairly widespread. This is particularly ironic given RFK Jr's recent visit to the state to celebrate the passage of "Make Texas Healthy Again" legislation -- a core aspect of which was student nutrition and physical education!

The Trump Administration, in its efforts to downsize government, has once again picked on a little known agency that produces data essential for food system analysis and the kind of work I do.  So I take this personally. In Trump I, it took care of the USDA's Economic Research Service, which shows few signs of recovering from staff losses. This time, it's the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, which among other things, runs the…