American Dish

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. often talks about reforming prison food in the same breath as school food, a genuinely unusual thing for a top health official to say. At the same time, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has quietly put out requests for information about outsourcing food service to the same private companies that serve colleges, elementary schools, and military bases. Are these two positions aligned? What would it take to actually improve food served in prisons? Why does it matter? We dive into all of it with two of the country’s top experts in prison food.Daniel Rosen co-founded the Carceral Nutrition Project after six years incarcerated in Virginia and Washington, D.C. Leslie Soble is a folklorist and ethnographer whose research became Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison, which just won a James Beard Award (Soble is also a founding board member of the Carceral Nutrition Project).Together, Rosen and Soble lay out what's actually on the tray, who's profiting from it, and why the whole "you did the crime, you do the time" doesn't actually make sense when you consider how to feed incarcerated people.Highlights:Prison and jail systems spend $1.50 to $2 a day feeding someone, a fraction of what the federal school lunch reimbursement coversThe wild imbalance between healthcare and food spending in correctional facilitiesHow privatization works (about a third of prison food service is outsourced)The science connecting better nutrition to lower violence in correctional facilitiesWhat the Trump administration is/isn’t doing to reform prison foodWhat national standards for prison food could actually look likeWhere to find Daniel Rosen and Leslie Soble:Carceral Nutrition ProjectEating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in PrisonAdditional Reading:"Private Food, Public Harm" — the CSPI/Carceral Nutrition Project report on privatized prison food serviceGesch et al. (2002) Gesch, C.B., Hammond, S.M., Hampson, S.E., Eves, A., & Crowder, M.J. "Influence of supplementary vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids on the antisocial behaviour of young adult prisoners." British Journal of Psychiatry, 181, 22–28. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.181.1.22Zaalberg et al. (2010) Zaalberg, A., Nijman, H., Bulten, E., Stroosma, L., & van der Staak, C. "Effects of nutritional supplements on aggression, rule-breaking, and psychopathology among young adult prisoners." Aggressive Behavior, 36(2), 117–126. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.20335Schoenthaler & Bier (2000) Schoenthaler, S.J., & Bier, I.D. "The effect of vitamin-mineral supplementation on juvenile delinquency among American schoolchildren." Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 6(1), 7–17. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2000.6.7Schoenthaler sugar studies (1980s) Schoenthaler, S.J. (1983). "The Alabama Diet-Behavior Program." International Journal of Biosocial Research, 5(2), 79–87. (Pre-DOI era; search via Google Scholar)Systematic review: dietary/nutritional interventions on behaviour and mental health of prisoners (2024) — 933 studies screened, 11 included; found consistent ~30% reductions in violence across intervention types.Australian pilot RCT on dietary supplementation and aggression in adult male prisoners (2020) — feasibility study for a larger omega-3/multivitamin RCT; prisoners below the 6% omega-3 index threshold were 4.3× more likely to have elevated aggression scores.Omega-3 multi-centre RCT protocol (2021) — pre-registered protocol for a large-scale replication of the Gesch/Zaalberg findings.Gut microbiota and mental health in new inmates (2022, PubMed) — inmates showed higher anxiety/depression scores and markedly shifted microbiome structure vs. controls; SCFA-producing genera depleted.Gut microbiome in impulsively violent female convicts (2021, Karger)Nutritional criminology: ultra-processed food and health/justice (2024, PMC)Crime and Nourishment: UPF, brain, and behavior — narrative review (MDPI)Is prison food really food? (2023, Health & Justice) — documents sodium/sugar-heavy, UPF-dominant prison diets and links to diabetes, mental health, and behavior.Nutrition associated with violent and criminal behaviors (2025, PMC)Stay in touch:Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix.Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube.Send ideas and feedback to [email protected] out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network.Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.

Ten percent of Americans are estimated to have food allergies — and that’s probably an undercount. The government hasn't updated its population data in nearly a decade, so the real figure could be more like 12 or even 15 percent.Despite the scale of food allergies, food allergy research gets a small fraction of the funding devoted to comparable chronic diseases — and the gap has stayed remarkably persistent even as public and political attention has increased.Ilana Golant, founder and CEO of the non-profit Food Allergy Fund, is on a mission to close this gap. Food allergies are common, so why are they being funded like a rare disease? Food Allergy Fund advocates for more federal research funding and also directly funds microbiome research, drug repurposing trials, and work to develop new AI diagnostic tools for allergy testing, among other research.Ilana didn't come to this work through a traditional public health career path — she came to it as a mom and also as a patient with food allergies.Highlights:– Why 75 percent of food allergy kids under 12 now have multiple food allergies, and what happened to "the peanut-allergic kid"– The funding gap between food allergies and comparable chronic diseases, broken down per patient– What early allergen introduction did and didn't do to change allergy rates for children– Inside the Food Allergy Fund's drug repurposing program and cutting edge microbiome research– Why so many food allergy clinical trials are now running in Australia instead of the U.S.– The growing problem of unlabeled allergens hiding in medications– How the sesame labeling law backfired, and ended up putting sesame in more foods, not fewer– Alpha-gal syndrome, ticks creeping into city parks, and the rise of adult-onset food allergiesWhere to find Ilana Golant:Food Allergy Fund websiteFood Allergy Fund on InstagramMentioned in this episode:The ADINA ActStay in touch:Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix.Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube.Send ideas and feedback to [email protected] out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network.Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.

This episode is something a little different: a roundtable with three journalists who've been deep in this moment in food policy, talking frankly about what they're seeing as MAHA's promises meet the reality of governing in Washington.Tal Kopan, deputy Washington bureau chief for The Boston Globe, has been reporting on the politics and also the money behind MAHA. Deena Shanker covers food for Bloomberg Businessweek and recently wrote about MAHA's school lunch ambitions colliding with funding cuts. Lisa Held is a senior reporter at Civil Eats, where she runs the Food Policy Tracker and just finished a four-part investigative series on what USDA cuts have meant for small farms and local food systems.We go behind the scenes on what it’s like to cover MAHA in this moment — and what comes next.Highlights:– How food dyes became the issue that pulled MAHA into the mainstream– The political and financial infrastructure being built behind MAHA, and what it suggests about Kennedy's long-term ambitions– Why MAHA's vision for school meals is running headlong into the administration's own budget cuts– What USDA's cuts to local food programs mean for small farms, and why those cuts are seen as anti-MAHA– The tension between MAHA as a federal policy driver versus MAHA as a growing grassroots movement at the state level– What reporters are watching next: Iowa's governor's race, Vani Hari's next political move, and whether MAHA survives its own contradictionsWhere to find our guests:Tal Kopan's reporting at The Boston Globe | @TalKopan on X | @TalKopan on BlueskyDeena Shanker's reporting at Bloomberg | @deenashanker.bsky.social on Bluesky | LinkedInLisa Held's reporting at Civil Eats | @lisaelaineh on X | Civil Eats Food Policy Tracker | @lisaelaineh on InstagramMentioned in this episode:Meet Tony Lyons, the man building RFK Jr.'s MAHA empire — Tal Kopan, The Boston GlobeGroup that supports RFK Jr. wants to change media messages on public health — Tal Kopan, The Boston GlobeMAHA's Hopes for Healthier School Lunches Collide With Trump's Spending Cuts — Deena Shanker, BloombergLosing Ground: How Trump Is Setting Back Local Food and Small Farms — Lisa Held, Civil EatsThis USDA Program Transformed Food Systems. It's Gone. — Lisa Held, Civil EatsUSDA Cuts Dismantled a Program Helping Local Food Economies — Lisa Held, Civil EatsTrump's USDA Revamped the Climate-Smart Program in a Blow to Many Small Farms — Lisa Held, Civil EatsMAHA candidate beats Trump's pick in Iowa Republican primary for governor — PBS NewsStay in touch:Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix.Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube.Send ideas and feedback to [email protected] out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network.Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.

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 toolWhere to find Rocco Renaldi:International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA)Mentioned in this episode:NOVA food classification system — the processing-based framework at the center of the UPF debateWhat we still don't know about ultra-processed foods with Julia Belluz & Kevin Hall — my earlier conversation with the NIH researcher who studied ultra-processed foods in controlled settingsCalifornia's work on UPF definitions in school meals — the state's ongoing effort to restrict the most harmful ultra-processed foods from school food programsStay in touch:Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix.Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube.Send ideas and feedback to [email protected] out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network.Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.

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 levelWhere to find Melissa Hockstad:Follow Melissa Hockstad on LinkedInMentioned in this episode:Consumer Brands AssociationFacts Up FrontSmartLabelStay in touch:Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix.Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube.Send ideas and feedback to [email protected] out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network.Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.

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 competitiveWhere to find Kevin Hall & Julia Belluz:Check out their book Food IntelligenceKevin Hall’s websiteFollow him on InstagramJulia Belluz’s websiteFollow her on InstagramMentioned in this episode:Kevin Hall's 2019 ultra-processed foods clinical trial — Cell MetabolismHow Washington Keeps America Sick and Fat — Helena's 2019 Politico investigation on nutrition research underfundingKevin Hall's departure from NIH — CNNStay in touch:Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix.Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube.Send ideas and feedback to [email protected] out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network.Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.

Sam Kass calls RFK Jr. "the greatest threat to public health this country has ever faced."He’s not joking. Sam led Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign, served as senior policy advisor in the Obama White House, and fought some of the most brutal food policy battles in recent memory. He knows what it takes to enact regulation and how hard industry will fight to protect its interests.Hearing MAHA panic about seed oils and food dyes while the administration weakens the FDA and CDC all while championing beef tallow french fries is downright alarming, he says. And that’s before we even get to the fact that the Trump administration is moving backward on responding to the climate crisis, which is the focus of his latest book, The Last Supper.Sam doesn’t hold back in this interview.Heads up for those with kids: There are some expletives in this conversation.Highlights:– How Big Potato fought the White House over what counts as a vegetable in school lunch and WIC– The reason why Sam's first cookbook didn't include white potatoes– The trans fat ban fight– How climate change has moved from future threat to present crisis– Why seed oils and food dyes are a distraction from what actually matters for public health– Fact-checking the narrative that Michelle Obama "caved to industry"– Democrats lost the food issue to Republicans — can they get it back?Where to find Sam Kass:Follow Sam Kass on InstagramCheck out his book, The Last SupperMentioned in this episode:Bold Fork BooksThe Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010Marion Nestle's Food Politics blogFed Up documentaryCOP 21 Paris Climate AgreementHow I Built This: Spindrift — Bill CreelmanStay in touch:Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix.Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube.Send ideas and feedback to [email protected] out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network.Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.

The Trump administration says we're being poisoned by our food system. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talks about ultra-processed foods, pesticides, and corporate capture of our health agencies. It's rhetoric that in many ways sounds like it came straight from the progressive food movement.Marion Nestle helped build that movement — and so far she's not impressed.An emerita professor at New York University, Nestle is 89, has written 17 books about food policy, founded the field of food politics, and writes the must-read blog foodpolitics.com.She's earned the right to be blunt. And in this conversation, she is.Highlights:– Marion's career journey and how food politics became a field of study– How to identify ultra-processed foods– Why it took so long for UPFs to become part of the conversation– The gap between MAHA rhetoric and policy reality– GLP-1 drugs as an existential threat to the food industry– The dietary guidelines' inherent conflicts (promoting agriculture vs. telling people to eat less)– School food funding and why every school should have a garden– What Marion would actually do if she were in charge of food policyEditorial note: We recorded this conversation before the Trump administration released the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030.Where to find Marion Nestle:Sign up for her must-read daily blog at foodpolitics.comCheck out her latest book, What to Eat NowOther books by Marion NestleMentioned in this episode:The Lancet series on ultra-processed foodsKevin Hall's NIH research/clinical trials on ultra-processed foodsThe latest MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) reportMarion Nestle's 2013 article about GRASGRAS reform proposal heads to White House for reviewStay in touch:Sign up for Helena’s must-read weekly newsletter: Food Fix.Follow American Dish on Instagram and YouTube.Send ideas and feedback to [email protected] out Forked, the food politics podcast Helena co-hosts with the Food & Environment Reporting Network.Credits: This episode was edited by Adrienne Cruz. Original music by David Bottemiller.