Continuing the Conversation With
Caree Jackson Cotwright

What do you see as the key roles for food technologists both in the private sector and at the university level in advancing equitable sustainable solutions for food security and food as medicine?

If we think about food and nutrition security and our approach at USDA, we’ve come to define nutrition security as meaning that everyone in our country has consistent and equitable access to healthy, safe, and affordable food that is optimal for their health and wellbeing. I know that’s a long definition, but it’s very important. And so, when we think about the role of food technologists, we really want to make sure that we have products that allow people to achieve nutrition security. When you think about our suite of 16 nutrition assistance programs, our snack participants, our WIC [Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children] participants, our WIC food package, our school meals, and our school meal standards, we have to have innovative products. For example, we are lowering sugar and sodium in our school meal standards. We have to have products that are tasty for kids because if they’re not tasty, they won’t eat them. When we think about the technology that is involved in sensory science and in food technology, we really need that core partnership and that evaluation.

And then there’s this other arm from academia where we’re really hearing from consumers about their wants and their desires and their needs. So both that qualitative and quantitative work is very important to our role in advancing food and nutrition security.

How long have you been with USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service? How do you feel the USDA’s role in nutrition security has shifted or grown?

I’ve been with the department a little over a year—celebrated one year in April. I have been privileged and honored to be in this role. In terms of our food and nutrition security initiative Secretary Vilsack launched this initiative about two years ago. The really came after the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, which was held two years ago, and it just really had this federal momentum and this push toward improving hunger, nutrition, and health.

The goals are very bold to end hunger, improve nutrition and physical activity, and reduce diet related diseases and disparities. So we are really working avidly to get the word out, both externally and internally to make sure that we are institutionalizing nutrition security because it is core to our mission. We’re just very excited about the partnership. We’re doing a whole of society approach as well as a whole of government approach.

And how have you built on efforts in past administrations? I’m thinking in particular of Michelle Obama’s work going back a decade or more.

Yes. I actually had the privilege to work on the Let’s Move! initiative under Let’s Move! Child Care. And I was doing that in another role. But in terms of what we are doing it is again about momentum. We had started to do burgeoning things. She was looking at childhood obesity. And again, many people have been in the trenches doing this work for such a long time, but with the magnitude of the White House Conference, there’s been more partnership. We’ve had White House commitments and those commitments have had industry come to really recognize and commit billions of dollars to make certain that people are getting access to that healthy, safe, and affordable food that I mentioned.

So as we continue to do that work, we are just climbing the ladder and we are doing it with speed and momentum that I’m very excited about. And I’m very excited about the fact that we’re not working in silos. We really are working across departments, and it’s a concerted effort to make sure that everyone in this country thrives.

What do you think are the most important next steps that Food Nutrition Services is going to be undertaking in terms of research and in terms of rolling out different programming?

One of the things that we have is a nutrition hub, and we are partnering with academic institutions to make sure that within communities nutrition education and meaningful nutrition support is available. We’ve done wonderful things like modernizing our WIC program, making sure that we have a diverse workforce, making sure that we’re reviewing our WIC food packages so that our participants are able to get the nutrition outcomes that they desire as well. We know that it works.

We know that we’re having public health impacts, and so we want to continue that passion. We want to continue to have healthy school meals for all. And also our summer EBT [electronic benefits transfer] program, which is a new program that helps supports families to have funds to have meals over the course of the summer. So again, making sure that people are able to put healthy meals on the table, and making sure that we’re working in partnership and not in silos.

And I’m super excited about our MyPlate National Strategic Partners where we’re working with industry to promote resources as well, because people need meaningful nutrition support. And that’s from birth to pregnancy and beyond for all demographics and all life stages.ft