Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios
The Senate HELP Committee is devoting what is likely one of its last hearings of the 118th Congress to processed foods and their role in childhood obesity and nutrition.
Why it matters: One of HHS Secretary-designate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s areas of interest is chronic disease in children, and Sen. Bernie Sanders' HELP hearing could showcase potential common ground between congressional Democrats and a second Trump administration.
What they're saying: "For far too long, the food and beverage industry has been allowed to use deceptive and misleading tactics to entice children to eat foods and consume beverages loaded up with added sugar, salt, and saturated fats that are purposely designed to be overeaten," Sanders said in a statement about the Thursday morning hearing.
- "The FDA can and must do more to ensure that Americans, especially children, teens, and their parents, understand the health risks associated with the consumption of these unhealthy and ultra-processed foods."
FDA Commissioner Robert Califf and deputy commissioner Jim Jones will testify at the hearing.
- Sanders is expected to ask the two about the design of front-of-package labels to clarify what harmful ingredients may be in products.
The intrigue: Sanders' remarks echo some of the sentiments Kennedy has aired about the FDA, including vowing to fire "entire departments" in part for accommodating processed and unhealthy foods.
- He's pointed to products like Froot Loops, which he said "have 18 or 19 ingredients," while in Canada they have only a few.
- FDA Commissioner-nominee Marty Makary's views on nutrition aren't as well known, but he has been an outspoken critic of the agency on the COVID-19 response.
- In Makary's most recent book, published in September, he said doctors have "demonized natural fat in foods, driving Americans to processed carbohydrates as obesity rates soared."
What we're watching: Whether other Democrats join Sanders in piling on to the FDA, perhaps signaling a future bipartisan-backed overhaul of the agency.
- Remember, Republicans in this Congress have criticized the FDA over recruitment and retainment efforts and have debated whether to give the agency more authority over drug shortages.
- Incoming Senate HELP Chair Bill Cassidy has also criticized the FDA over guidance on drug patent listings and over medical technology policies.
