Shutdown Deal Kills Rules to Prevent Food Contamination and Foodborne Illnesses

This article was originally published by The Lever, an investigative newsroom. If you like this story, sign up for The Lever ’s free newsletter.

Amid a lobbying blitz and a flood of campaign cash, senators inserted language into this week’s emergency spending bill that eliminates rules designed to prevent food contamination and foodborne illnesses at farms and restaurants, according to legislative text reviewed by The Lever .

The bill would also limit the development of rules to regulate ultra-processed foods, despite such foods being derided by the “Make America Healthy Again Movement,” championed by President Donald Trump ’s Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr .

The Senate’s gutting of these rules coincides with a huge increase in hospitalizations a