America grows more food than any nation on Earth. More than half of what it grows is not food Americans actually eat. What it does feed its people contains more chemicals, preservatives, and ultra-processed ingredients than almost any other developed nation allows. The farmland that feeds the country is being depleted. The schools serving 30 million children every day are still catching up to basic nutrition science. And the communities with the least money have the least access to real food.
Part of Ida's America 250 series. Full scorecard at readida.com/american-dream-scorecard
THE GRADE: D
250-year arc: C. America went from a nation where famine and malnutrition were real threats to the most food-productive country in human history. That progress is real.
Last 50 years: D. The industrialization of the food supply introduced more than 10,000 chemicals and additives into American food. Ultra-processed food now makes up more than 57 percent of American caloric intake. Corporate farming consolidated control of the food supply into fewer and fewer hands while depleting the soil that grows it.
Last 25 years: D. Food insecurity has remained stubbornly persistent despite economic growth. The obesity rate climbed to 42 percent of American adults. Diet-related disease became the leading driver of preventable death.
Last 10 years: D. Food deserts expanded. More than 19 million Americans live more than a mile from a supermarket without a car. The ultra-processed food share of the American diet continues to rise.
Last 5 years: C. The first meaningful federal action on food additives in decades occurred between 2021 and 2026. Several states began banning chemicals long prohibited in Europe. School meal standards were updated for the first time in years. The trend is beginning to move in the right direction. The gap between American and international food safety standards remains wide.
THE SCHOOL LUNCH PROBLEM
Nearly 30 million American children eat school lunches every single school day. For more than half of them it is the most nutritious meal they get. That is not an exaggeration. It is confirmed by USDA research.
For decades those meals lagged behind basic nutrition science. In 2010 the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, signed by President Obama, began requiring more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in school meals. The food industry and some school districts pushed back. Progress was slow.
In April 2024 the Biden administration finalized new school meal standards that for the first time set limits on added sugar in school lunches — a standard that takes effect in stages between 2025 and 2027. Schools must reduce sodium by 15 percent in lunches and 10 percent in breakfasts by the 2027-2028 school year. At least 80 percent of weekly grains must be whole grain.
Those standards are an improvement. Several states are going further. Arizona, Arkansas, Utah, Louisiana, and West Virginia have passed bans on artificial dyes and additives in school food. California passed the first state law defining ultra-processed foods and banning them from school meals — the most aggressive school food standard in American history.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Trump in 2025 changed SNAP eligibility requirements in ways that researchers confirmed could reduce school meal participation among children who qualify. The full impact on school meal enrollment is being tracked.
THE CORN PROBLEM
Here is one of the most important confirmed facts about the American food supply that most Americans do not know.
More than 50 percent of the crops grown in the United States are not food Americans eat directly. They go to ethanol production, animal feed, and industrial use. The dominant crop is corn. The U.S. government subsidizes corn production with approximately $4.9 billion annually, confirmed by USDA data. That subsidy makes corn extraordinarily cheap to produce — so cheap that it gets turned into high fructose corn syrup and stuffed into thousands of processed food products because it is cheaper than sugar.
High fructose corn syrup now appears in sodas, cereals, bread, condiments, yogurt, crackers, canned fruit, and hundreds of other products. It is the primary sweetener in most American processed food. Research links high consumption to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic disease. The European Union restricts HFCS production through quotas and does not allow it in the same concentrations as the United States. American consumption has declined modestly over the past two decades but it remains far higher than in comparable nations.
The corn subsidy system also crowds out fruits and vegetables. Farmers are incentivized to grow corn over specialty crops because the subsidy protects them from market risk. Fruits and vegetables receive a fraction of the subsidy support that corn, soy, and wheat receive. The result is a food supply structurally optimized to produce cheap processed food rather than nutritious whole food.
The overconsumption of subsidized unhealthy food contributes to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other diet-related illnesses that cost the American health system more than $1 trillion a year, confirmed by The Hill citing USDA and health policy research.
THE CORPORATE FARMING PROBLEM
In 1950 there were approximately 5.6 million farms in the United States. Today there are approximately 2 million. The number of farms has fallen every decade. The size of farms has grown every decade. Large corporate farms — those with more than $250,000 in annual sales — account for just 12 percent of all farms but produce 84 percent of total agricultural output, confirmed by USDA data.
Corporate farming has produced abundant and cheap food. It has also produced documented consequences for the land that grows it.
Industrial farming practices including monoculture planting — growing the same crop on the same land year after year — deplete soil nutrients, increase erosion, and reduce the biodiversity that makes soil healthy and productive. The USDA confirmed that approximately one-third of American agricultural topsoil has been lost since the 1930s. Topsoil takes hundreds of years to form. It is being depleted faster than it can regenerate.
Pesticide use on industrial farms is extensive. The U.S. uses more pesticides per acre than most comparable nations. Pesticide residues have been found in groundwater, surface water, and food. The EPA classifies multiple commonly used agricultural pesticides as probable human carcinogens. Glyphosate — the active ingredient in Roundup, the most widely used herbicide in American history — has been classified as a probable human carcinogen by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer. The EPA maintains it is safe at current exposure levels. The scientific debate continues.
Fertilizer runoff from industrial farms is the leading cause of dead zones in American waterways. The Gulf of Mexico dead zone — a hypoxic area where virtually nothing can live — is fed largely by agricultural runoff from Midwestern corn and soy farms traveling down the Mississippi River. It grows larger most years.
THE GMO QUESTION
Genetically modified organisms — GMO crops — were introduced commercially in the United States in 1996. Today approximately 92 percent of corn, 94 percent of soybeans, and 96 percent of cotton grown in the United States are genetically modified, confirmed by USDA data.
The scientific consensus, confirmed by the National Academies of Sciences, is that GMO crops currently approved for commercial use are safe to eat. That consensus is not the same as saying all GMO practices are beneficial. The primary concern confirmed by researchers is not human health from eating GMOs but ecological consequences.
GMO crops engineered for herbicide resistance — primarily Roundup Ready crops made to survive glyphosate application — have led to the development of herbicide-resistant superweeds that now affect more than 60 million acres of American farmland, confirmed by USDA. Controlling those superweeds requires more herbicide, creating a cycle of increasing chemical dependency.
GMO crops engineered for uniform appearance — tomatoes that stay red longer, fruits that do not bruise — have in some cases been confirmed to have lower nutritional density than their non-engineered counterparts. A tomato bred to look good and last long in a supply chain may not be the same tomato bred to have the most nutrition. The evidence on this is category-specific and not uniform across all GMO crops.
The EU requires labeling of GMO foods. The United States does not require specific labeling that says GMO — it uses a disclosure standard called bioengineered that appears on some but not all products containing GMO ingredients.
THE GRAS LOOPHOLE
The United States allows more than 10,000 chemicals and additives in food, many of which have never been independently reviewed by the FDA. The Generally Recognized as Safe framework — GRAS — allows food companies to determine for themselves that their own ingredients are safe without notifying the FDA. The Center for Science in the Public Interest confirmed: the FDA often does not know what ingredients are in American food because companies are not required to tell them.
The EU operates under a precautionary principle. An ingredient must be proven safe before it is used. The U.S. assumes safety until proven otherwise — and puts the burden of proving otherwise on regulators rather than manufacturers.
Specific chemicals banned in the EU but legal in the U.S. include potassium bromate, a probable carcinogen used in flour; propylparaben, a preservative linked to hormonal disruption; BHT and BHA, preservatives linked to potential endocrine disruption; and multiple synthetic food dyes that require warning labels in Europe.
The FDA banned Red Dye No. 3 in January 2025 after more than 30 years of documented safety concerns. The GRAS loophole that allowed 10,000 other chemicals into the food supply without review has existed since the Eisenhower administration and has never been closed.
FOOD INSECURITY AND ACCESS
42 million Americans experienced food insecurity in 2024, confirmed USDA. More than 13 million of them were children. More than 19 million Americans live in food deserts — areas where real food is not accessible without a car.
Food deserts are not distributed randomly. They are concentrated in low-income communities and communities of color. The foods most available in food deserts are ultra-processed, high in sodium, sugar, and preservatives, and low in nutritional value. The communities with the least money have the least access to the food most likely to keep them healthy.
SNAP — the federal food assistance program — serves approximately 42 million Americans. It is one of the most effective anti-poverty tools in the federal budget. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act cut SNAP benefits in ways the CBO projected would cause 2.4 million people to lose food assistance.
MICROPLASTICS
Microplastics have been confirmed in bottled water, tap water, seafood, produce, meat, and processed food packaging. They have been detected in human blood, lungs, placenta, and brain tissue. A 2024 study found people with plastic particles in their artery plaque were 4.5 times more likely to experience a heart attack or stroke. No safe level of human microplastic exposure has been established. No federal standard for microplastics in food or water currently exists. Learn more about microplastics and what medical research tells us about the impact on our health.
WHAT WOULD CHANGE THE GRADE
The Food Quality and Access grade improves when the GRAS loophole closes and independent safety review is required for all food additives. It improves when agricultural subsidies are redirected toward fruits, vegetables, and sustainable farming practices rather than corn and soy monocultures. It improves when school meals meet full nutritional standards for all 30 million children who depend on them. It improves when food deserts are addressed with confirmed policy interventions. It improves when the soil that feeds the country is treated as the irreplaceable resource it is.
Sources: USDA confirmed 42 million food insecure Americans, 13 million children, 19 million food desert residents · FDA confirmed GRAS framework and Red Dye No. 3 ban January 2025 · CBS News confirmed 10,000 chemicals and FDA review gap · Newsweek confirmed CSPI quote · USDA confirmed 92 percent GMO corn, 94 percent GMO soybeans · USDA confirmed 12 percent of farms produce 84 percent of output · The Hill February 2025 confirmed $1 trillion diet-related illness costs and corn subsidy system · PMC peer-reviewed research confirmed HFCS subsidy $4.9 billion annually · Congress.gov confirmed school meal standards 2024 rule and timeline · School Nutrition Association confirmed 30 million children daily · PMC 2025 confirmed One Big Beautiful Bill school meal impact · EWG confirmed specific chemicals EU ban status · USDA Economic Research Service confirmed topsoil loss and GMO herbicide-resistant weeds · National Academies of Sciences confirmed GMO safety scientific consensus · IARC confirmed glyphosate probable carcinogen classification · CBO confirmed 2.4 million losing SNAP benefits · Levels Health 2026 confirmed microplastics artery plaque study · Congressional Record confirmed all legislative history
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