The recent White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health is now history. The conclusions reached at the strategic conference are being discussed in detail for eventual implementation. The importance of the conference and the high-level input that a lot of government and non-government organizations (NGO) and individuals put into the event all but guarantees that the outcomes will not gather dust on a shelf. Active conference participants included a bipartisan group of members of Congress, food NGOs, health advocates, agriculture groups, medical experts, and a variety of private sector partners.
Rep. David Scott (D-GA), House agriculture committee chairman, said, “This bipartisan conference gave a voice to a breadth of stakeholders, including impacted individuals, state agencies, school systems, food companies, and other community partners. These voices are important to hear from to inform us on how to best target the underlying causes of food insecurity and ensure our federal nutrition programs are as effective as possible, particularly as we head into the 2023 Farm Bill.” So, let us look at what happened at the conference, pre and post.
White House Plan To Address Food Insecurity, Improve Nutrition
With food inflation still hitting high, single-digit increases, the Biden-Harris administration announced days prior to the start of the conference an $8 billion public-private commitment to help achieve their lofty goals of ending hunger and reducing diet-related diseases in the U.S. by 2030 and addressing the needs of families and individuals struggling to afford food.
The White House plan includes five specific pillars that were addressed at the White House conference. They were: (1) improving food access and affordability; (2) integrating nutrition and health; (3) empowering all consumers to make and have access to healthy food choices; (4) supporting physical activity for all; and (5) enhancing nutrition and food security research. Also, there were other issues discussed that directly related to food retailers, including “improving transportation options to and from grocery stores, farmers’ markets and commercial districts.”
Among other administration and conference outcomes were proposals to develop a front-of-packaging labeling plan and update the nutritional criteria for use of the words “healthy” on food packages (see below), both issues that I have previously mentioned in my commentary. In addition, reducing sodium and sugar consumption is also a part of the conference plan as are proposals to provide more free meals to school children.
The private sector also actively participated in the conference and several U.S. food chains have already announced initiatives to address conference concerns. For example, Iowa-based Hy-Vee announced it would deliver 30 million meals to “vulnerable” communities by 2025 and that it would deploy its team of registered dietitians to educate 100,000 residents in low-food access areas about healthy eating by 2026. Albertsons said it plans to donate more than 100 million meals in 2023 and 1 billion meals by 2030 and also help 50,000 eligible neighbors enroll in SNAP and WIC benefit programs in 2023, among other initiatives to address hunger.
Food Industry Comments On White House Conference
Leslie Sarasin, FMI – The Food Industry Association’s president and CEO, was a conference participant and said that the food industry plays a critical role in solving issues of hunger and nutrition. She stated, “Grocery stores serve as accessible, convenient, community-based destinations for feeding assistance, preventive care, nutrition guidance and for providing nourishing, practical meal solutions. It will take all of us working together to achieve these goals.” My thoughts exactly. If your food chain or independent retail operation cares about ALL your customers, the conference provides a lot of options for you to address the critical issues of food insecurity and food health like Hy-Vee and Albertsons have announced.
The National Grocers Association chimed in too, saying they will assist with improving access to independent grocery stores by working to increase the number of their retail members authorized for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) online purchases, with a focus on rural communities and areas with low food access or food deserts.
FDA Proposes Updating Healthy Claims On Packages
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just proposed updated criteria detailing when foods can be labeled with the nutrient content claim “healthy” on packaging. This proposed rule would align the definition of the “healthy” claim with current nutrition science, the updated Nutrition Facts label, and the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
The proposed rule comes on the heels of the White House conference as well as the release of the Biden-Harris administration’s parallel national strategy, which aims to end hunger, improve nutrition and physical activity, and reduce diet-related diseases by 2030.
Under the proposed definition, to be labeled with the “healthy” claim on food packaging, products would need to contain a certain meaningful amount of food from at least one of the food groups recommended by the official Dietary Guidelines for Americans and adhere to specific limits for certain nutrients, such as saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars.
On a separate but related track that I have previously commented on, the FDA is also researching a symbol that manufacturers could use on the front of a package to show that their product meets the definition of the “healthy” claim. Having standardized graphics to show that a food qualifies for the “healthy” claim would further support FDA’s goal of helping consumers more easily identify packaged food products that help them build healthier eating habits.
Reducing Foodborne Illness In Retail Establishments
After lengthy discussions, the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have entered a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to strengthen food safety in retail and food service environments. The goal of the renewed partnership between FDA and CDC is to help reduce the occurrence of foodborne illness.
The MOU will help increase the consistency and capacity of retail food protection programs across the country, promote a general culture of food safety and facilitate continued communications between the FDA and CDC to assist state, local, and food industry partners. The collaboration of the FDA and CDC, as federal retail food safety partners and leaders, presents a unique opportunity for the two agencies to join forces to provide unified, national leadership and support reductions in occurrences of foodborne illnesses.
SNAP Administrative Changes
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service has announced the release of the National Accuracy Clearinghouse (NAC) interim final rule, the first step toward leveraging an innovative new tool to promote customer service and prevent duplicate participation in the SNAP Program.
Under the new interim final rule, all state agencies will be required to work toward implementing the NAC system, which is a technology-based solution designed to prevent individuals from receiving SNAP benefits in more than one state at the same time. While the system will catch and prevent fraudulent and unintentional dual participation, it will also result in a more seamless experience for participants who move from state to state and need to disenroll in one state to apply in another and help to alleviate problems at the retail level, too.
A Penny For Your Thoughts
FMI is encouraging U.S. shoppers to help increase coin circulation as part of their “Get Coin Moving” campaign to support fellow Americans and businesses that rely on coins for everyday cash transactions amid ongoing circulation disruptions. So, according to FMI, if you are one of the 128 million households hording coins, please get them back into circulation.
Barry Scher is associated with the public policy firm of Policy Solutions LLC and can be reached at Bscher@policy-solutions.net.
