Food & Nutrition

USDA FNS Stacy Dean to Leave USDA 

USDA’s Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services (FNS) deputy undersecretary Stacy Dean announced her departure from the agency, which was accompanied by the announcement of Dean’s new appointment as the George Washington University Global Food Institute’s inaugural Carbonell Family Executive Director. According to Politico, Cindy Long, USDA’s FNS administrator, will fulfill the deputy undersecretary position, and FNS assistant administrator Tameka Owens will assume the role of acting administrator beginning in July 2024.

USDA FNS Launches New Program Participation Dashboard

USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) announced the launch of the new and interactive FNS Program Participation Dashboard that features state, territory, and national level data for FNS nutrition programs. The dashboard provides insight into publicly available data, including program participation and meals served across the agency’s ten nutrition programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). This dashboard marks the eighth interactive dashboard that FNS has released and is the first to bring together participation data across FNS nutrition programs into one location. 

Lawmakers Send Letter Urging FTC Action on Food Marketing Targeting Children 

Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and 14 other lawmakers sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) calling for the agency to further restrict the marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages aimed at children. In the letter, the lawmakers urge the FTC to find ways to protect children from advertising in digital media and prioritize publishing updated guidelines on avoiding harm when using endorsements in marketing for ‘unhealthy’ foods and beverages. The letter highlights the dangers and proliferation of the promotion of 'unhealthy' food and beverage products on various social media platforms in the U.S., citing that such marketing may impact children’s food preferences, purchase requests, and consumption patterns, and may contribute to ‘unhealthy’ eating patterns.

IFIC Publishes 2024 Food & Health Survey

The International Food Information Council (IFIC) published its annual 2024 IFIC Food & Health Survey to understand consumers perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors surrounding food and food-purchasing decisions. The 2024 Food & Health Survey addressed several areas of focus, including perceptions about health and nutrition, food and beverage purchase-drivers, eating patterns and diets, and the approach of sugar consumption and the use of low- and no-calorie sweeteners, among others. IFIC found several key findings, including that only 1 in 3 consumers are familiar with the term “ultra-processed food,” terms such as “fresh,” “good source of protein,” and “low in sugar” remain the top three criteria consumers use to define a healthy food, and the number of consumers trying to consume protein continues to increase while limiting nutrients such as saturated fat and sodium remains a top priority for consumers, among others.

Study Suggests Diet Quality of U.S. Adults Improved From 1999 to 2020

A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine examined trends in diet quality by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic disadvantage among U.S. adults. The study, authored by Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Tufts Food is Medicine Institute, found that between 1999 and 2020, the proportion of U.S. adults with poor diet quality decreased from 48.8% to 37.4%. Researchers highlight that while diet quality modestly improved, the proportion of poor diet quality remains high and dietary disparities persist.

Food Safety

FDA Proposes to Exempt Cottage Cheese Products From Traceability Requirements

FDA issued a proposed exemption for certain cottage cheese products from the requirements of the agency’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) final rule, Requirements for Additional Traceability Records for Certain Foods. The proposed exemption would apply to all Grade “A” cottage cheese that appears on the Interstate Milk Shippers List. The action follows FDA’s intention to consider exempting cottage cheese from the requirements stated in the final rule. Currently, cottage cheese is covered by the final rule because it is included on the Food Traceability List (FTL) in the “Cheese (made from pasteurized milk), fresh soft or soft unripened” commodity. FDA is accepting public comments on the proposed exemption until September 12, 2024.

Global

WHO Publishes Guideline on Fiscal Policies to Promote Healthy Diets

The World Health Organization published the agency's new guideline on fiscal policies to promote healthy diets. The guideline provides Member States with recommendations and implementation considerations on fiscal policies to promote healthy diets, including food and beverage taxation and food subsidies that contribute to a healthy diet, enabling these foods to be more accessible and affordable. WHO makes the following three recommendations for measures that Member States can take, including implementing a policy to tax sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), implementing a policy to tax foods that do not contribute to a healthy diet, and implementing a policy to subsidize foods that contribute to a healthy diet.

Fun Fact: The crabapple is the only apple native to North America.