'State of the Plate' Reviews Setbacks in Key Food-Related Programs

The executive branch has tremendous power to reshape food policy through political appointments, executive orders, and regulatory reform.

Three days have passed since the President delivered his State of the Union address. In conjunction with the annual  speech, the advocacy and education organization Food Policy Action put together a State of the Plate review to examine how important domestic and international anti-hunger, farming, environmental and nutrition programs fared during the past year.

The report looked at three different broad areas and came to these conclusions:

Access to safe and healthy food is under attack 

Federal actions have lowered school nutrition standards, removed important food safety protections, endangered nutrition assistance programs, and delayed progress on food labeling transparency.

• Rollbacks of nutrition standards in the National School Breakfast and School Lunch Program will allow more sodium, more sugar, and fewer whole grains on kids’ plates.
• The Administration’s proposed budget endangers successful, vital food assistance programs through funding cuts and false stories about SNAP beneficiaries.
• The Administration’s delay in requiring an updated Nutrition Facts label keeps consumers in the dark about critical information on the food they are buying, including added sugar and sodium, chemicals and dyes, and serving recommendations.

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Decades of progress in sustainable farming, fisheries management, and clean water protections are being unraveled

The Administration has enacted sweeping measures to eliminate rules that protect human health and the long-term viability of our soil, water, and oceans

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reversed a ban on a dangerous pesticide that has lifelong effects of brain development in children despite deep concern from scientists and physicians.
• The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) withdrew a proposed rule to improve standards for humane production of organic eggs, despite protests from organic producers and consumers that this withdrawal severely weakens the integrity of the organic program.
• A Presidential executive order directed the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers to repeal a pollution prevention rule, exposing upstream water sources to toxic contaminants that flow into larger bodies and sources of our drinking water.

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Standards for workers’ rights and fair competition for farmers have been weakened

Farmers and food workers rely on a level playing field, safe working conditions, and diverse opportunities to survive and prosper, but this Administration has scorned these basic rights for farmers and ignored the vital role that food and farm workers play in our economy

• The USDA sided with the largest meatpacking companies at the expense of small producers by withdrawing rules to enforce fair competition and by eliminating the agency that polices deceptive and anti-competitive practices.
• Immigration crackdowns and divisive rhetoric from the Administration have inspired fear and uncertainty among food and farm workers.
• The EPA is delaying the implementation of a new rule that includes worker protections from pesticide exposure. 

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