The USDA claimed there is a “war on protein” when they released the new Dietary Guidelines. It seems more like a war on science to me.
I recently read a post from the Genetic Literacy Project and agree with the commentary in this viewpoint. Federal health and safety organizations, under the leadership of RFK Jr, are becoming a coalition of wellness influencers leading this “real food” activism (that began as anti-vaccine activism). This is not a step forward for science.
For the first time in my career as a writer and nutrition communications consultant, I find myself unable to regularly reference food, nutrition, and medical information from government organizations as I’ve always done (like the FDA, USDA, and HHS) due to questionable information that is now being shared at their websites.
Public Health: Moving Forward, or Backward?
Sometimes I see public comment about vaccines that wonder why a food and nutrition professional would care about anti-vaccine viewpoints. As I mentioned, in my view, the current US Health and Human Services division is becoming a coalition of wellness influencers leading this “real food” activism, which in this case, began as anti-vaccine activism. Kennedy’s anti-vaccine organization Children’s Health Defense has exploited people’s uncertainties about vaccines and continues promoting disinformation about vaccines. Now it’s about food.
A Quick Personal Story
In my work, I am always looking through the lens of public health. Medicine, nutrition, food, and public health intersect often in the careers of most registered dietitians. Registered dietitians are trained in food, nutrition and medicine. Our supervised practice before we can become certified includes clinical work in medicine, and preventive medicine includes proper vaccination, healthy lifestyle behaviors, diet, and exercise.
We are also shaped by our own life experiences. For instance, when I was a kid, parents took their children to public clinics to receive vaccines. These clinics were partially funded by government to allow safe health access across entire communities. This improves health. My mother was delighted that she could protect her child, especially since my older sibling had suffered through some diseases pre-vaccine (mumps).
More progress came with the chicken pox vaccine. While I did get chicken pox (varicella zoster virus), my children will not. During their childhood, a safe and effective vaccine was developed . Those who get chicken pox are at risk for getting shingles. I got the shingles vaccine as soon as it was available to me because my father got shingles late in life, and I watched him suffer with post-herpetic pain (severe, burning pain in nerves and skin) for the entire last 6 years of his life. This was a man who had arthritis, three knee replacements, just about every benign surgery possible, was in WWII, but said the shingles pain was the worst pain he’d every experienced in his lifetime.
Science Literacy
Yet here we are in 2026. We are regressing away from the science and technology that can and has protected us. We are currently living in a time when misinformation from self-proclaimed “wellness influencers” is embraced over the information shared by science or health professionals. The words “processed foods” and “ultra-processed foods” are used, in relation to health, interchangeably and often misleadingly. Adding to the current state of science illiteracy is Florida’s Surgeon General. He is openly promoting food fear by showcasing “toxic foods” to avoid. In his new “Healthy Florida First” initiative, he has (so far) targeted bread products, infant formula and candy, for “toxic” chemicals testing.
“Toxic” according to the Oxford dictionary, is defined as: harmful or dangerous to health or life when taken into the body; poisonous. Let me be clear:
- Infant formula is NOT TOXIC
- Packaged Bread is NOT TOXIC
- Candy does NOT contain toxic levels of arsenic
Healthy Florida First is sharing lists of foods with assigned numbers coded to products. They don’t clearly provide any real explanation of what the numbers mean. The claim is that they are taking “proactive steps to strengthen food safety standards nationwide”. However they don’t seem to understand toxicology at all. This government body literally made things up to suit an agenda. The levels they are reporting are not toxic, they aren’t even high.
Food Safety and Fear of Chemicals
One of the key principles of toxicology is hazard and risk. Hazard is the property of a chemical having the potential to cause adverse effects with exposure. Risk however, is the probability of the adverse effect occurring. Misunderstanding these key principles of toxicology is what’s driving this fear of chemicals.
Trace levels of chemicals are widespread throughout nature and our environment (our body is primarily made up of chemical elements and is 99% hydrogen oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus) . Florida’s “study” (I can only find their results, I’m not sure how they conducted this study) is not supported by the totality of evidence. Any evidence of harm comes from rodents fed massive amounts of a specific ingredient. Rat studies have there place but there is little to no evidence of harm to humans at these trace exposure levels.
I’m sure there will be more to come on this. In the meantime, don’t serve candy as a meal Eat smaller portions of everything and a variety of foods. Your food is safe. You are not harming your infant with formula, nor are you hurting your child with an occasional candy treat.
Read more about Hazard and Risk here.
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