For this story, POLITICO interviewed more than 60 sources familiar with Michelle Obama’s work, including her current and former advisers, members of Congress, food industry officials, state agriculture leaders, nutrition and obesity experts and first lady historians. (Obama herself, through a spokesperson, declined repeated requests for interviews.) We found a still-evolving legacy that dovetails—by design—with the president’s far more controversial accomplishment, the Affordable Care Act. Schools across the country are serving whole grain pasta, breads and pizza along with far more fruits and vegetables. A massive food assistance program for poor mothers and children now doles out more money each month for produce. Soon the government will finalize the first-ever revamp of the Nutrition Facts label that appears on all packaged food, perhaps the most reproduced piece of graphic design in the world.
The first lady has also pulled along the private sector, nudging them to make substantial changes that most people will never associate with her. America’s largest food and beverage manufacturers cut 6.4 trillion calories out of the food supply, in part by tweaking their recipes. Olive Garden and Red Lobster swapped fruits and vegetables in for fries on kids’ menus; Walmart cut back on sodium.
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