American Dish

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) [https://www.ifballiance.org/] Mentioned in this episode: NOVA food classification system [https://educhange.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/NOVA-Food-Classification-EduChange.pdf] — 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 [https://pod.link/1880072578/episode/NjAwNjIzOWItZDhiOC00OGM1LTkxYTItNzE4NDNhZmQ2ZDEw?view=apps&sort=popularity] — my earlier conversation with the NIH researcher who studied ultra-processed foods in controlled settings California's work on UPF definitions in school meals [https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2025/10/california-enacts-an-ultra-processed-food-law-but-only-for-public-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 [https://foodfix.co/]. Follow American Dish on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/americandishpodcast/] and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@AmericanDishPodcast]. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co [info@foodfix.co] Check out Forked [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/forked-presented-by-reap-sow/id1821950125], the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz [https://adriennecruz.com/]. Original music by David Bottemiller.

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 [https://eatreal.org/] Parent resources at eatreal.org/parents [https://eatreal.org/parents] Follow Nora on Instagram (@nourishedwithnora) [https://www.instagram.com/nourishedwithnora/] and LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nora-latorre/] Mentioned in this episode: AB 1264 — California's school food bill [https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1264] Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix [https://foodfix.co/]. Follow American Dish on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/americandishpodcast/] and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@AmericanDishPodcast]. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co [info@foodfix.co] Check out Forked [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/forked-presented-by-reap-sow/id1821950125], the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz [https://adriennecruz.com/]. Original music by David Bottemiller.

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 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissahockstad/] Mentioned in this episode: Consumer Brands Association [https://www.consumerbrandsassociation.org/] Facts Up Front [https://www.factsupfront.org/] SmartLabel [https://www.smartlabel.org/] Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix [https://foodfix.co/]. Follow American Dish on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/americandishpodcast/] and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@AmericanDishPodcast]. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co [info@foodfix.co] Check out Forked [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/forked-presented-by-reap-sow/id1821950125], the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz [https://adriennecruz.com/]. Original music by David Bottemiller.

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 [https://www.instagram.com/theformulamom/] Check out her book Bottle Service [https://bottleservicebook.com/] Mentioned in this episode: Operation Stork Speed [https://www.fda.gov/food/infant-formula-homepage/operation-stork-speed] Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix [https://foodfix.co/]. Follow American Dish on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/americandishpodcast/] and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@AmericanDishPodcast]. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co [info@foodfix.co] Check out Forked [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/forked-presented-by-reap-sow/id1821950125], the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz [https://adriennecruz.com/]. Original music by David Bottemiller.

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 [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/671334/food-intelligence-by-julia-belluz-and-kevin-hall-phd/] Kevin Hall’s website [https://www.kevinhallphd.com/] Follow him on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/kevinh_phd/?hl=en] Julia Belluz’s website [https://www.juliabelluz.com/] Follow her on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/jbelluz/?hl=en] Mentioned in this episode: Kevin Hall's 2019 ultra-processed foods clinical trial — [https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(19)30248-7]Cell Metabolism [https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(19)30248-7] How Washington Keeps America Sick and Fat [https://www.politico.com/news/agenda/2019/11/04/why-we-dont-know-what-to-eat-060299] — Helena's 2019 Politico investigation on nutrition research underfunding Kevin Hall's departure from NIH — CNN [https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/16/health/nih-nutrition-researcher-departs] Stay in touch: Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix [https://foodfix.co/]. Follow American Dish on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/americandishpodcast/] and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@AmericanDishPodcast]. Send ideas and feedback to info@foodfix.co [info@foodfix.co] Check out Forked [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/forked-presented-by-reap-sow/id1821950125], the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz [https://adriennecruz.com/]. Original music by David Bottemiller.