Why it matters: The dairy product has had a niche following that transcends partisanship for decades. But federal health officials say the lack of heating and pasteurization poses risks like exposure to harmful bacteria like E. coli and listeria — a concern that's been amplified by bird flu spreading among dairy cattle.
President-elect Trump on Friday selected Johns Hopkins professor Marty Makary to lead the Food and Drug Administration.
Why it matters: Makary has long advocated for reforms to the health care system and gained prominence during the pandemic for his criticisms of parts of the federal response. He has recently been supportive of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination to become HHS secretary.
President-elect Trump announced a slew of nominations to lead health agencies Friday.
State of play: He will nominate doctor and former Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fl.) to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Marty Makary for FDA Commissioner and Dr. Janette Nesheiwat for Surgeon General.
When President-elect Trumptook office the first time, his choices to lead agencies like HHS, CMS and the FDA sent clear signals to the health care industry that he'd enact a pretty orthodox GOP health agenda.
Why it matters: Trump's nominations for top health care positions so far signal a starkly different — and likely unpredictable — agenda for his second term.
This time around, he's started with a group of nominees — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mehmet Oz — new to Trumpworld and unfamiliar with government bureaucracy. Their views and resumes are nearly the exact opposite of their predecessors.
The remaining wild card is whom Trump chooses to staff the agencies around those people, assuming they get confirmed by the Senate, which could make a huge difference given their government inexperience.
Flashback: Trump's first HHS secretary was former Rep. Tom Price, who chaired multiple influential House committees during his tenure, including the Republican Policy Committee.
After Price resigned due to a scandal around his use of private jets, Trump appointed Alex Azar to lead the agency. Azar was formerly an Eli Lilly executive and deputy HHS secretary.
Price was criticized by Democrats for both his ethics and his policy views, especially relevant as he'd be helming the agency during Republicans' attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Azar was criticized for being too friendly with the pharmaceutical industry.
Those complaints are a far cry from the objections to Kennedy's nomination, which include his history of criticizing vaccines and his conspiratorial ideas about Big Pharma's role in America's chronic health issues.
And Kennedy's focus on upending the health care agencies and addressing rising rates of chronic disease in America has just about nothing in common with the first Trump administration's focus on insurance reforms.
Kennedy's interest in cracking down on America's food supply also wasn't a priority for the first Trump administration.
