Todd Wagner Talks EU vs US Food Systems at Schwarzenegger World Summit
June 13, 2025
EU vs. US Food Systems:
On a panel at the June 3 Austrian World Summit hosted by The Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative, FoodFight USA co-founder Todd Wagner explained to a European audience why the U.S. falls behind the EU when it comes to the health of our food supply, and what we are doing about it. View his remarks in this brief video clip from his panel “Why Soil Matters: and what we can do to save it.”
Highlights from Todd’s remarks:
- U.S. food and health industries are “like ships passing in the night.”
- The EU’s single agency, EFSA, oversees food from farm to fork, and relies on independent scientific review and cumulative effects studies. U.S. food regulation is fragmented, and the FDA has focused more on drugs and medical devices than on food.
- Tobacco companies bought food companies in the 1980s and began applying their addiction playbook to food, engineering it to be “hyperpalatable.”
- Exploitation of the GRAS (General Recognized As Safe) loophole has resulted in more than 10,000 approved chemicals in the U.S. food supply, compared to only 400 in the EU.
- That has contributed to the growth of ultra-processed foods (UPFs). Todd says these “concoctions of chemicals that subvert your metabolism” are “the straw that stirs the obesity, cancer, diabetes drink.”
- It’s estimated that 70% of the average American’s diet is UPF, compared to 20% in Europe, and the U.S. is a nation that is chronically ill. 75% of U.S adults are overweight or obese; 38 million are diabetics; only 22% of young people qualify for military service due to obesity issues.
Creating Solutions
FoodFight USA is working to clean up America’s tainted food supply with a focus on:
State and Federal Legislation. FFUSA started by working with California to pass landmark bipartisan bills to ban known carcinogens statewide (of which two are now banned nationally) and synthetic dyes in schools. Now more than half of U.S. states have passed or introduced similar legislation. This month, California advanced with strong bipartisan support a third bill to define and phase out harmful UPF from CA school meals.
Consumer Empowerment. From food-scanning apps, to youth education programs, to developing our own healthy seal of approval, we are helping people make healthier choices today.
Regenerative Farming. FFUSA supports the growth of regenerative farming practices including crop rotation, cover crops, low or no tilling, and the reduction of pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides. Wagner says in the U.S. “conventional farming needs to be the exception, not the rule” and believes that regenerative farming can be scaled.