American Heart Association bats for Big Food
The American Heart Association shocked Texas lawmakers last week by advocating in favor of Big Food.
Texas Senate Bill 379 would exclude sugary drinks and ultra-processed snacks from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This would prevent SNAP recipients from purchasing chips, candy, sodas, and other junk food with government-subsidized food stamps. The idea has gained strong support among Republicans and MAHA supporters like Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
At a March 11th public hearing before the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, the American Heart Association (AHA) voiced its opposition to SB 379. AHA Government Relations Director Alec Puente said that “the Heart Association is concerned about potential impacts of this bill on participation and population health.”
“For a bill like this, we would need to be careful that it does not impact overall participation in the SNAP program and that there be adequate education to the public on healthy habits,” Puente told the committee.
State Sen. Lois Kolkhorst expressed her shock at the AHA’s stance.
"I often say that I can never be surprised in this building, but for the American Heart Association to be against this bill, that might be the surprise of the session so far," said Kolkhorst.
The AHA’s ‘troubling conflicts’ with Big Food
The AHA has had lucrative ties to Big Food for decades, receiving millions of dollars from Kellogg’s, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, ConAgra, and others. The Heart-Check Food Certification Program, one of the AHA’s initiatives, offers companies a heart-healthy label they can slap on food products in exchange for an annual fee of up to $6,000. The Industry Nutrition Forum, an AHA program that claims to promote public health in the food industry, charges a membership cost of $15,000 per year. PepsiCo, Kroger, and General Mills are members.
Grace Price, an investigative reporter who argued for SB 379 at the public hearing, slammed the AHA for trying to thwart the bill.
“I am disgusted,” she wrote on X. “The American Heart Association just sent an employee to TEXAS to fight a bill that would stop food stamps from covering candy & soda—a bill to reduce heart disease. Why? Because the AHA takes money from Kellogg’s & Pepsi, whose profits would tank if it passed. Thank you, [state Rep. Kolkhorst], for standing up for Texas kids against this corrupt ‘heart health’ org.”
“These kind of troubling conflicts undermine public health,” US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. replied.
The AHA was one of 96 other health organizations sponsored by PepsiCo and Coca-Cola between 2011 and 2015, according to a 2016 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
