A month has passed since the Make Our Children Healthy Again: Assessment (MAHA report) was released. The report has since drawn criticism from farmers and various state and national agricultural groups that are focused on crop and livestock production. There’s no question that one of the biggest concerns is what actions and practices the MAHA Commission will recommend in their follow-up report due for release by Aug. 12.
Concern about the MAHA report led 250 agriculture groups to ask the Trump administration to “correct” the direction of its Make America Healthy Again goals, in a letter on June 17.
“The process by which the Commission’s most recent report was created lacked transparency and any opportunity for public engagement,” the letter said. “As a result, the report contained numerous errors and distortions that have created unfounded fears about the safety of our food supply. While we appreciate recent outreach to some stakeholders in the food and agriculture sector, to genuinely provide the transparency and gold-standard science pledged in the report, we urge the administration to formally include farmers, ranchers, and food producers in a collaborative stakeholder process throughout all future work of the Commission.”
Many pork industry groups signed the letter, including California Pork Producers Association, Colorado Pork Producers Council, Illinois Pork Producers Association, Iowa Pork Producers Association, Kansas Pork Association, Kentucky Pork Producers, Missouri Pork Association, Montana Pork Producers Council, Ohio Pork Council, Tennessee Pork Producers Association, Texas Pork Producers Association, Utah Pork Producers Association and Wisconsin Pork Association.
Ohio pork producer Pat Hord says for the most part, the MAHA report encourages whole foods, and the pork industry has plenty of that to offer.
“The concerning piece for us is to be looped into an ultra-processed category,” Hord says. “When they were pulling this together, it seemed like they were just throwing things into a bucket. But, you have a bacon or a sausage that’s lumped into there, and that’s a concerning area for us.”
One of the most frustrating things about the report is that agriculture stakeholders did not have a seat at the table, Hord says.
Science-Based and Nutrient-Dense
Pork is a nutrient-dense protein that plays a valuable role in any diet and certain pork products have the American Heart Association stamp of approval, explains Bryan Humphreys, CEO of the National Pork Producers Council.
“I’ve heard a number of concerns from producers in the countryside over the attack on science and how that report came together with very little or any input from agriculture community that has over years built the most abundant and safe food supply in the world,” Humphreys says. “As we look at that report – 73 pages and 520 citations – there is real opportunity there for us to dive in and get a better understanding of everything that’s included.”
The agriculture industry relies heavily on research and science to build the food supply, Humphreys adds. But it’s noticeable that there was not a lot of input from agriculture groups in the report.
