Last September, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released the “Make Our Children Healthy Again” report, outlining over 100 goals to improve American children's health. The New York Times assessed progress across four areas: “poor diet,” “chemical exposure,” “lack of physical activity and chronic stress,” and “overmedicalization.”\n\nIn the “poor diet” category, the administration released new dietary guidelines recommending avoidance of highly processed foods and approved policies in 23 states to prohibit purchasing sodas and candies with SNAP dollars, though a court blocked these in five states.

The Food and Drug Administration proposed a rule requiring food manufacturers to disclose ingredients and asked them to remove petroleum-based dyes. However, a federal definition for ultraprocessed foods remains under review at the White House, and President Trump signed legislation allowing schools to serve whole milk, despite unclear evidence of health benefits.\n\nSteps away from stated goals include the Agriculture Department canceling more than $1 billion in funding to purchase fresh foods from local farms. A health department spokeswoman, Grace Davis Jamison, stated that Mr. Kennedy and President Trump have “delivered historic reforms that are fundamentally changing how the federal government approaches food, nutrition and chronic disease.”.