Overview

• The pre-decisional August 6 draft calls for a government-wide definition of ultra-processed foods and targeted pesticide research without proposing any bans or broad usage limits.
• White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai has dismissed the document as speculative literature, stressing that no MAHA report is official until formally released.
• Small and rural farmers have voiced frustration and accused MAHA of hypocrisy after the March cancellation of the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement and Local Food for Schools programs.
• MAHA’s credibility remains under scrutiny following expert criticism of its May report for sloppy sourcing and inclusion of non-existent academic citations.
• Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins has argued that American farming depends on crop protection tools, mirroring the draft’s restraint on pesticide regulation.