Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Latest from Food Politics: New York City updates food standards for city agencies: restricts artificial sweeteners and colors

I was sent a press release from New York City’s food policy office: NYC Releases Updated Food Standards for Foods and Beverages Served by 11 City Agencies We are pleased to announce the release of the 2025 updates to the NYC Food Standards for Meals ...
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By Marion Nestle

New York City updates food standards for city agencies: restricts artificial sweeteners and colors

I was sent a press release from New York City’s food policy office: NYC Releases Updated Food Standards for Foods and Beverages Served by 11 City Agencies

We are pleased to announce the release of the 2025 updates to the NYC Food Standards for Meals and Snacks Purchased and Served as well as a new Implementation Guide for the NYC Food Standards for Cafeterias and Cafes.

The new standards apply to the nearly 220 million meals and snacks served annually by city agencies and sub-contractors at schools, childcare centers, older adult centers, correction centers, shelters, public hospitals, and parks.

The Food Policy office also released a fully updated implementation guide to help meet the NYC Food Standards for Cafeterias and Cafes that were updated in 2023. These Standards are voluntary for retail food venues in hospitals, universities, and other organizations.

The key updates:

  • No artificial sweeteners
  • No artificial colors and certain flour additives and preservatives
  • No processed meats
  • Emphasis on whole or minimally processed plant protein foods
  • Improved nutrition quality of snacks

The list of prohibited artificial sweeteners is worth a look:

Includes: acesulfame potassium, advantame, allulose, aspartame, brazzein, monatin, monk fruit (also known as luo han guo), neotame, polydextrose, rebauside, rebaudioside, steviosides, stevia, saccharin, sucralose, and sugar alcohols (glycerol, mannitol, sorbitol, xylitol, erythritol, and Lycasin and Palatinit)

So is the list of prohibited artificial colors:

Artificial Color, FD&C Blue No. 1, FD&C Blue No. 2, caramel color, Citrus Red
No. 2, FD&C Green No. 3, Orange B, FD&C Red No. 40, titanium dioxide, FD&C Yellow
No. 5, and FD&C Yellow No. 6

The Make America Healthy Again crew should be happy about these bans, as they go right along with its agenda.

Here’s how the press is covering this:

Politico: NYC to restrict processed meats, artificial dyes in meal programs

 

The post New York City updates food standards for city agencies: restricts artificial sweeteners and colors appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle

Coming Soon: What to Eat Now

My new book What to Eat Now is a field guide to food shopping in America, and a treatise on how to eat well and deliciously.

Forthcoming November 11, 2025

For more information and pre-orders, click here.

You can explore the full archive of this (almost) daily blog at foodpolitics.com, where you'll also find information about my books, articles, media interviews, upcoming lectures, favorite resources, and FAQs.

​​​​​​​

Marion Nestle

Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, Emerita

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Tuesday, September 2, 2025

Latest from Food Politics: Nutrition in Medical Education: this again? Apparently so.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has announced that medical schools will now have to teach nutrition.   This is a great idea in theory; in practice, no so much, First, here’s what RFK Jr is saying: View this post on Instagram A post shared by ...
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By Marion Nestle

Nutrition in Medical Education: this again? Apparently so.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has announced that medical schools will now have to teach nutrition.  This is a great idea in theory; in practice, no so much,

First, here’s what RFK Jr is saying:

I can’t believe I’m writing about this again.  

I taught nutrition to medical students at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine from 1976-1986.  The lack of nutrition training in medicine had already been an issue under discussion since the early 1960s.  Not much has changed since then.

Why?

Have you been to a doctor lately?  If so, how much time did you have?

Even if your doctor has a degree in nutrition, she doesn’t have time to take a diet history and work with you to improve your particular diet.  She also will not get reimbursed for that time.

Nutrition can be complicated as applied to specific disease conditions.  Who is going to teach it?

I think doctors only need to know three things about nutrition.

  1.  The importance of diet for good health
  2.  How to refer patients to a dietitian/nutritionist
  3.  How to work with a dietitian/nutrition to improve patient care

Yes, doctors can also write prescriptions for healthy foods, if they are involved with a Food Is Medicine program.

But the single best way to deal with the nutrition issue is to refer patients who need help to a dietitian/nutritionist.

I sure hope that is Number 1 on the required curriculum.

Two previous posts on this topic:

  • From 2024: Some thoughts about the current state of nutrition I: Medical Education

    I wrote my first book, Nutrition in Clinical Practice, in which I briefly summarized what all of us at the time thought medical students needed to know.  The book was published in 1985, and is long out of print.  In 2020, a used copy was available on Amazon for $930 (even more surprising, it is no longer on that site).

The post Nutrition in Medical Education: this again? Apparently so. appeared first on Food Politics by Marion Nestle

    

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Coming Soon: What to Eat Now

My new book What to Eat Now is a field guide to food shopping in America, and a treatise on how to eat well and deliciously.

Forthcoming November 11, 2025

For more information and pre-orders, click here.

You can explore the full archive of this (almost) daily blog at foodpolitics.com, where you'll also find information about my books, articles, media interviews, upcoming lectures, favorite resources, and FAQs.

​​​​​​​

Marion Nestle

Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, Emerita

© Marion Nestle. You're receiving this email because you've signed up to receive updates from us.

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Latest from Food Politics: New York City updates food standards for city agencies: restricts artificial sweeteners and colors

I was sent a press release from New York City’s food policy office: NYC Releases Updated Food Standards for Foods and Beverages Served by 11...