'This is killing our children': Panic as food industry uses MAHA to weaken rules

The processed food industry, facing its most hostile political environment in decades, has found an unlikely ally in the very movement threatening it — and is now using the "Make America Healthy Again" wave to pursue federal standards that would undercut tougher state-level rules.

As the Trump administration pressures food makers to voluntarily eliminate synthetic dyes and limit marketing to children, industry lobbyists are quietly working Capitol Hill to lawmakers to establish new federal food standards that would pre-empt a growing patchwork of state regulations that set significantly higher bars for ingredient labeling and restrictions on ultra-processed food in schools, reported Politico.

“The truth is, the amount of money and political heft that the food industry exerts on our political leaders right now is far more than tobacco — and maybe more than tobacco ever has,” said Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown University law professor focused on global health. “And while the MAHA movement talks a big game, it doesn’t do much.”

“This is killing our children,” Gostin added, “and Congress should be ashamed of itself.”

MAHA's populist health crusade is being partially redirected by the food industry into a vehicle for regulatory relief, and Congress has continued siding with food companies to shoot down an amendment that would have blocked SNAP benefits from being used to purchase soda and block the release of a Federal Trade Commission report on junk food marketing to children — a document lawmakers have suppressed since 2014.

Meanwhile, the industry has spent a record $113 million on lobbying since President Trump returned to office, a more than 30 percent increase over the prior year. Coca-Cola alone spent more than $2 million in the first quarter of this year, with PepsiCo adding another $1.8 million.

“They have a stranglehold,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL). “I don’t want to be dramatic, but that was the case with the tobacco industry.”

The Trump administration's own approach has made the industry's maneuvering easier. Rather than pursuing federal mandates, officials have sought voluntary commitments from food makers, which gives companies room to negotiate the terms of their own oversight while pushing for weaker national standards to replace stricter state laws.

"They don't want to go out on a limb for their buddies in the industry," said Thomas Gremillion, of the Consumer Federation of America. "But are they going to actually rock the boat to help reduce food marketing to kids? No, I'd be very surprised."

Consumer advocates warn the endgame could leave Americans with less protection than they have today. California and other states have moved aggressively on food additives and school nutrition, but a federal pre-emption deal, crafted under the banner of MAHA, could erase those gains entirely.