Trump admin moves to update nutrition rules for infant formula, change would be biggest in decades

The Trump administration took its most significant step yet Thursday to modernize what American babies consume. The Food and Drug Administration proposed a new rule updating the nutrient requirements for infant formula, a change the agency describes as the biggest update to formula standards in nearly 30 years.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who launched the effort last year, has framed the goal in sweeping terms. 

"We're going to make American infant formula the gold standard for the world," he said in announcing the initiative, called Operation Stork Speed.

The proposal is part of the FDA's ongoing review of baby formula nutrients. It is the first phase of a three-part plan to review and possibly revise standards for the 30 nutrients a formula must contain. The rule will go through public comment before any changes take effect.

What the FDA proposed

The proposal adjusts the required limits for iodine, vitamins A and D, and manganese, and sets a ceiling on manganese for the first time. It would also update how vitamins A and D are measured, permit a new source of vitamin A, and revise labeling rules. 

Regulators concluded that current levels of chloride, selenium, potassium and sodium are adequate and will stay as they are.

The FDA intends to propose rules covering the rest of the nutrients before issuing a single final rule, and has promised outside peer review of the science behind it. The agency projects the changes will cost manufacturers $8.4 million to $31.7 million a year, with $17.6 million as its central estimate.

The proposal moved quickly. The White House received the rule for review on Oct. 14 and classified it as economically significant. It cleared that review Wednesday, after roughly two weeks. The work traces back to May 2025, when the FDA formally requested public input to start the review, noting that its last comprehensive look at formula nutrients came in 1998.

A history marked by crisis

Federal formula rules were born from a crisis. In the late 1970s, a formula with too little sodium chloride harmed infants. That led Congress to pass the Infant Formula Act of 1980, which still underpins today's FDA nutrient rules. Some researchers have argued that the law no longer reflects current science and needs a full independent review.

Recent years have brought more turmoil. Abbott's Sturgis, Michigan, plant was at the center of the 2022 baby formula crisis, after contamination forced a recall that worsened a nationwide shortage. 

In late 2025, organic formula maker ByHeart recalled all of its products nationwide during an infant botulism outbreak, and every affected baby was hospitalized. The FDA said ByHeart was disproportionately represented among sick infants, given its roughly 1% share of U.S. formula sales.

Contaminants remain a concern. In April, the FDA released results from its largest-ever testing of infant formula, finding most products met a high safety standard while officials stressed that even small exposures matter for newborns.

MAHA's broader push

Formula is one piece of Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again agenda. HHS and the FDA launched Operation Stork Speed in March 2025 to expand safe, reliable formula options. The effort also included a joint nutrition research program with the National Institutes of Health examining how infant diets shape lifelong health.

Beyond formula, Kennedy and the FDA announced plans in April 2025 to phase out petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the food supply. The FDA has also proposed making "Generally Recognized as Safe" notifications mandatory, closing a path that allowed companies to self-certify ingredients as safe, though the rule stops short of requiring premarket approval.

On the same day as the formula rule, the FDA issued draft guidance capping cadmium in processed foods for children under age two.

Not every MAHA claim has gone unchallenged. FactCheck.org disputed former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary's suggestions that seed oils and added sugars in formula are unhealthy. It noted that all formula contains some added sugar to better mimic breast milk.

Amanda Head is White House Correspondent for Just the News. You can follow her here.