Information about the Aspen Ideas Festival is here. I am scheduled for a session, The American Wellness Paradox, currently scheduled from 11:00-11:50 a.m., at the East Lawn Tent. This will be a discussion with senior HHS policy advisor, Calley Means. Here’s the blurb on it: “Americans are spending more than ever on healthcare, supplements, wellness trends, and “clean eating,” yet rates of chronic disease and metabolic illness continue to climb. As skepticism fuels the rise of movements like MAHA, debates over what Americans should eat have become deeply cultural, political, and economic. Two influential voices with sharply different perspectives on nutrition and food science explore how food systems, farming practices, consumer culture, and the wellness industry collided to create one of the defining public health debates of our time.”
FDA says infant formulas are free of toxic metals (mostly)
In the way this administration announces things, I saw this on X.
The FDA’s one-page summary says the agency had tested more than 300 samples of infant formulas with these results:
If there is a more detailed report, I can’t find it.
- The FDA did not say which brands it tested
- The FDA has not set standards for contaminants in infant formula
- It did not test for pathogens such as Cronobacter, Listeria, Salmonella, or E. coli
- The FDA did not address seed oils or sugars in infant formula
The quality of infant formula is a big issue for the MAHA movement.
Its microbial safety is a bigger issue for me.
The Senate has just passed an infant formula bill to require manufacturers to test for Cronobacter and Salmonella and inform the FDA of positive results. That’s a good first step.
While all this is going on, I heard this from a reader who works with Rad Moms, a grassroots advocacy group calling on ByHeart, the company that makes infant formula recalled for potentially containing botulism bacteria, to stop running their influencer ads during the recall.
Despite 50+ babies contracting botulism, hundreds of ByHeart ads were still running for MONTHS while cans were still on the shelves (as recently as March 2026).
The bottom line: Breastfeed if you are able to. To avoid pathogens, buy pasteurized liquid formula. I don’t know what to say about the heavy metals and PFAS, except that less is better.
And here is food safety lawyer Bill Marler on what needs to be done to make infant formula safe from pathogens.
Later addition
The Guardian on criticisms of the FDA’s conclusions: no levels of endocrine disrupting chemicals are safe
