By yacobchuk1/DepositPhotos image
The release of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Strategy has drawn strong reactions from leading livestock organizations. Both the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) praised the second report’s alignment with agricultural priorities and science-based nutrition.
According to a press release from the NCBA, “American Beef is a Perfect Fit with the Second MAHA Report.” The association emphasized the report’s support for fresh, whole foods. “NCBA highlighted the strategy’s stressing the need for a diet high in whole unprocessed foods like fresh beef, encouraging innovation, jumpstarting gold-standard research between diet, lifestyle and health and boosting consumption of fresh, healthy and locally produced foods.”
Ethan Lane, NCBA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, added:
“This report confirms the science-based recommendation that making America healthy again has to start with safe, nutritious, fresh, whole-ingredient and American beef hits the target on all of the above. As this administration has pointed out before, beef is the crown jewel of American agriculture. Millions of American families build a healthy plate around our product every week. We will continue working with President Trump’s administration to keep the supply chain moving and keep the safest, highest quality beef in the world on grocery store shelves.”
Meanwhile, the National Pork Producers Council acknowledged their input was reflected in the final document.
“The National Pork Producers Council highlights recommendations that they made to the commission that made it into the strategy including: A fair and workable definition for ‘ultra-processed food,’ Protection of the use of food additives that enhance food safety, shelf life, and nutritional availability, Exclusion of animal feed from reforms to the ‘generally recognized as safe’ standard, and Adoption of a risk-based approach for determining the safety of technologies used in food production.”
NPPC President Duane Stateler said,
“While agriculture’s voice was widely unheard in the initial MAHA report, we thank the administration for listening to our concerns before releasing the ‘Make Our Children Healthy Again’ strategy. We all want to help our children be healthy, yet there is still more work and understanding for this goal to best be accomplished.”
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet. Livestock Industry Reacts to MAHA Strategy Release