--- title: The New MAHA Report Lacks Teeth, Experts Say description: A new report from the Make America Healthy Again Commission barely mentions processed foods—a previous focus. canonical: https://time.com/7315789/maha-report-strategy-plan-rfk-jr/ author: Alana Semuels article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-09-09T21:30:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T08:10:54.437Z article:section: Health og:title: The New MAHA Report Lacks Teeth, Experts Say og:description: A new report from the Make America Healthy Again Commission barely mentions processed foods—a previous focus. og:url: https://time.com/7315789/maha-report-strategy-plan-rfk-jr/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3cc2b9d25de19068/6998c9a59fbc7c499cd9a666/MAHA-Commission.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: President Trump Attends MAHA Commission Event At White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The New MAHA Report Lacks Teeth, Experts Say twitter:description: A new report from the Make America Healthy Again Commission barely mentions processed foods—a previous focus. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3cc2b9d25de19068/6998c9a59fbc7c499cd9a666/MAHA-Commission.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The New MAHA Report Lacks Teeth, Experts Say > Sponsored content. 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The first MAHA report, released in May and titled “Make Our Children Healthy Again,” mentioned ultra-processed foods more than 40 times, blaming them for negative health outcomes in children. The just-released follow-up action plan, which outlines the Trump Administration’s strategy for fixing the problems identified by the first report, mentions ultra-processed foods only once, pledging that government agencies would continue to try to develop a definition for them._  by [Alana Semuels](https://time.com/author/alana-semuels/)  ## Alana Semuels Senior Correspondent Sep 9, 2025 9:30 PM UTC The first MAHA report, released in May and titled “Make Our Children Healthy Again,” mentioned ultra-processed foods more than 40 times, blaming them for negative health outcomes in children. The just-released follow-up action plan, which outlines the Trump Administration’s strategy for fixing the problems identified by the first report, mentions ultra-processed foods only once, pledging that government agencies would continue to try to develop a definition for them.  by [Alana Semuels](https://time.com/author/alana-semuels/)  ## Alana Semuels Senior Correspondent Sep 9, 2025 9:30 PM UTC The first MAHA report, released in May and titled “Make Our Children Healthy Again,” mentioned ultra-processed foods more than 40 times, blaming them for negative health outcomes in children. The just-released follow-up action plan, which outlines the Trump Administration’s strategy for fixing the problems identified by the first report, mentions ultra-processed foods only once, pledging that government agencies would continue to try to develop a definition for them. It’s just one way that the [MAHA Strategy Report](https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/The-MAHA-Strategy-WH.pdf), released on Sept. 9, disappointed many public health advocates—including some MAHA supporters—who had hoped that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s maverick approach to science might upend decades of slow progress on improving nutrition among American children. “The first MAHA report was revolutionary in a good way,” says Jerold Mande, an adjunct professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health who was a senior policy official for nutrition in the Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations. It suggested that the root cause of chronic disease in the U.S. was the food industry, a renegade position for the federal government to take. This action plan backed off significantly from that position. “What this says to me is that the first report was written by MAHA,” he says, “and the second one, the White House let industry lobbyists write it.” **Read More**: [_Why Ultra-Processed Foods Are So Bad for You_](https://time.com/6245237/ultra-processed-foods-diet-bad/) Trump Administration figures defended the action plan at a press conference on Sept. 9, praising the report and its 128 action points that it says will be achieved through innovative approaches to research, increased public awareness, private-sector collaboration, and realigned incentives. “A lot of these 128 recommendations are things that I've been dreaming about my whole life,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, at the press conference. “There’s never been an effort like this.” The MAHA Commission—made up of Kennedy and more than a dozen other administration officials, including the USDA secretary and the EPA administrator—met with hundreds of stakeholders, including doctors, teachers, parents, and farmers, Kennedy said, outlining the many complex interests that the Administration had to balance in coming up with the report. But observers still contend that MAHA’s strategy lacks teeth. For example, the first report said that pesticides, microplastics, and dioxins are found “at alarming levels” in the blood and urine of American children. It mentioned that some studies have drawn links between pesticides and adverse health outcomes, and that glyphosate may lead to cancer and liver inflammation. The September report, though, only says that the EPA will ensure that the public has “awareness and confidence in EPA’s robust pesticide review procedures” and that USDA and EPA will launch a partnership with the private sector to use precision technology for pesticides. It does not mention any pesticides by name. **Read More**: [_Are Pesticides in Your Food Harmful?_](https://time.com/7291075/are-pesticides-dangerous-maha-glyphosate-atrazine/) When a draft of the MAHA strategy report was leaked in mid-August, Moms Across America, a nonprofit that promotes awareness about toxins in the food supply, expressed disappointment. “This MAHA Commission Report's section on pesticides was clearly influenced by chemical corporations,” the group said in [a post on its website](https://www.momsacrossamerica.com/moms%5Facross%5Famerica%5Fresponds%5Fto%5Fthe%5Fmaha%5Fcommission%5Freport). “It is not a depiction of Robert F Kennedy's commitment; it is a display of many people whose names are on the report, pandering to pesticide company profits and catering to the convenience of agrochemical farmers.” Some of the group’s concerns include that the EPA’s pesticide review process does not require long-term animal studies or studies that show multigenerational effects of pesticides. The group has called on the Trump Administration to ban 86 pesticides that have been banned in other countries. When a reporter asked at the press conference why the report was not more critical about pesticides, as some people had expected, the administration defended its position, saying that the government already had a strong pesticide-review process in place. “The EPA is arguably the most rigorous, most data backed, the most scientifically backed deep review process in the world,” USDA secretary Brooke Rollins said. “To approve any product that is used by our farmers, it will have gone through years upon years upon years of research.” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin added that the EPA was “aggressively confronting” the threat of banned pesticides that had been imported or smuggled into the U.S. Another criticism of the leaked report came from Marion Nestle, a renowned nutritionist and professor of food studies at New York University. She lambasted the report for having too few actual plans to change the system, and too many calls for more research. “When it comes to policy, it has one strong, overall message: _more research needed._ Regulate? Not a chance,” Nestle wrote,[ on her website](https://www.foodpolitics.com/2025/08/https-www-foodpolitics-com-wp-admin-post-phppost27811action/). “Everything else is waffle words: explore, coordinate, partner, prioritize, develop, or work toward.” The final strategy plan says it will address the chronic disease crisis “through advancing research,” that it will launch a new vaccine injury research program, that it will “conduct research as appropriate” on prescription patterns for mental health drugs, and will “expand research on dietary patterns,” to name a few. There are, of course, some groups that will be happy with the MAHA strategy report, including those in the food industry who were spared the regulation that the initial report seemed to hint was coming. The strategy report largely eschews industry regulation and instead calls for industry guidelines, which are often determined and developed by companies, not by the government. Rather than regulating the direct marking of food to children, for example, the strategy report says it will explore the development of potential industry guidelines. That approach to industry is not so different from what Michelle Obama did in her Let’s Move campaign, says Mande, of Harvard, who served in the USDA at the time. Obama’s government-wide effort to combat childhood obesity highlighted companies that were making their own efforts to meet the goals she had set in Let’s Move. Though she would name specific companies and hold events with them to celebrate their commitments, a lot of those commitments have fallen by the wayside, he says. **Read More**: [_Seed Oils Don’t Deserve Their Bad Reputation_](https://time.com/7269715/are-seed-oils-unhealthy/) At the press conference, Rollins highlighted companies that had voluntarily agreed to remove petroleum food dyes from their food products, calling them out by name. Some food industry groups also seemed to be pleased with the report, especially those in the dairy industry. They include the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), which celebrated a line from the strategy report that suggests that the Trump Administration will push to get whole milk back into schools. For decades, scientific evidence has suggested that because whole milk contains high levels of saturated fat, consumers should favor lower-fat versions. The MAHA report, on the other hand, says it wants to remove restrictions on whole-milk sales in schools. “The MAHA Commission’s Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy recognizes what the latest science indicates and what we’ve long been saying: that getting whole milk back into schools and boosting dairy in diets helps meet America’s nutritional needs,” said NMPF president and CEO Gregg Doud on [the group’s website](https://www.nmpf.org/nmpf-maha-statement/), “and that it is critical to improving the health of our nation’s children.” _—With reporting by Connor Greene_ ## Transcript [00:00] Today's report outlines a bold framework to improve children's health [00:03] through 128 targeted directives and strategies. [00:08] This report is the result of [00:10] a thorough and robust policy process that [00:13] relied heavily on the input and expertise of families, [00:17] farmers, doctors, industry leaders and innovators. [00:22] This strategy aims to create systemic change to protect and promote [00:25] children's health through four key pillars one. [00:28] Driving innovation through research. [00:31] Two policies to realign incentives and systems three. [00:35] Increase public awareness and knowledge, [00:37] and fourth, private sector collaboration. [00:40] There's never been a president in my lifetime that is [00:43] more willing to challenge businesses when they overreach. [00:47] It was more fearless about challenging entrenched interests in our society. [00:54] And so many times I've had discussions with them about a certain injury or illness. [01:00] and heal, and how unpopular it will be if we talk about [01:04] the solutions which are going to hurt certain businesses. [01:08] And he said, I don't care. [01:09] He says, again and again, I don't care. [01:11] This is children. [01:12] We need to save the children. [01:15] A lot of these 128 recommendations [01:19] are things that I've been dreaming about my whole life. [01:22] I've been working for and [01:24] congressional campaigns and presidential campaigns for other candidates. [01:29] And they get into office and they say, [01:31] well, we can't, we just can't do it. [01:33] A lot of these things are things that I never thought about. [01:36] But there are real scientific issues that need to be addressed. [01:40] Why are autism rates going up so quickly? [01:43] What can we do about it? You know what? [01:45] What, uh, what's the answer for, [01:48] uh, type type one diabetes for kids? [01:51] Um, what are the long term effects of the rising use of antidepressants in children? [01:58] Um, you know, the problem of ADHD. [02:01] You can go on and on and on and on. [02:03] What you have is a picture of real questions [02:07] that need to be answered with excellent science at the Trump EPA. [02:10] We are accelerating innovative and vetted crop protection products [02:15] to enhance an American system of agriculture that is already the best in the world. [02:20] At the same time, [02:22] EPA is aggressively confronting and addressing the threat of [02:25] banned pesticides imported or smuggled into the United States from China and elsewhere. [02:31] These are highly toxic substances that can be fatal to [02:35] humans and animals and damage our environment. [02:38] It is a top priority, [02:40] in line with the Make America Healthy Commission to protect Americans from this threat. [02:45] The EPA is arguably the most rigorous, [02:51] the most data backed, [02:54] the most scientifically deep review process in the world [02:59] And to approve any product that is used by our farmers. [03:05] It will have gone through years upon years upon years of research. [03:11] Tools that are meant to fight disease, such as vaccines, [03:13] antibiotics and therapeutics can save lives [03:16] can also trigger adverse events in some patients, [03:19] and that truth must no longer be denied or distorted. [03:22] We are bringing transparency and research to this critical connection. [03:26] We had lots of guns when we were kids. [03:27] We had comparably the same number of guns. [03:30] Nobody was doing that. [03:32] We had gun clubs in my school. [03:34] Kids brought guns to school and were encouraged to do so. [03:38] And nobody was walking into schools and shooting people. [03:41] So and this is not happening in other countries. [03:44] There are many, many things that happen in the 1990s that could explain these. [03:48] One is the dependence on on psychiatric drugs, [03:54] which is in our country, [03:57] is unlike any other country in the world. [04:00] It could be there could be connections with video games, with social media. [04:06] There are a number of things, [04:07] and we are looking at that at NIH. [04:10] So we are doing studies now or initiating studies to look at [04:17] the correlation and the connection potential connection [04:22] between overmedicating our kids and, [04:25] uh, and this violence. [04:26] The committee, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, [04:30] is reviewing the science on every vaccine. [04:34] They're reviewing the reports in the in the vaccine adverse event reporting System and, [04:40] and in the scientific literature. [04:43] And they will be reviewing vaccine recommendations. [04:47] So, you know, that is something there's a panel of experts. [04:51] It's going to meet again, [04:52] I think on September 18th. [04:54] And they're going to do a real gold standard scientific review. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7315789/maha-report-strategy-plan-rfk-jr/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7315789/maha-report-strategy-plan-rfk-jr/"},"headline":"The New MAHA Report Lacks Teeth, Experts Say","datePublished":"2025-09-09T21:30:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-19T08:10:54.437Z","description":"A new report from the Make America Healthy Again Commission barely mentions processed foods—a previous focus.","url":"https://time.com/7315789/maha-report-strategy-plan-rfk-jr/","keywords":["Public Health"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3cc2b9d25de19068/6998c9a59fbc7c499cd9a666/MAHA-Commission.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Semuels","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alana-semuels/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3cc2b9d25de19068/6998c9a59fbc7c499cd9a666/MAHA-Commission.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Attends MAHA Commission Event At White House","caption":"President Trump Attends MAHA Commission Event At White House","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7315789/maha-report-strategy-plan-rfk-jr/","name":"The New MAHA Report Lacks Teeth, Experts Say"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"RFK Jr. Releases HHS Report on Children's Health","description":"The first MAHA report, released in May and titled “Make Our Children Healthy Again,” mentioned ultra-processed foods more than 40 times, blaming them for negative health outcomes in children. 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