Sarah Reinhardt

Food Systems & Health Analyst

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Sarah Reinhardt is the food systems and health analyst for the Food & Environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. In her role, she applies her academic expertise in nutrition and her practical experience in equitable and sustainable food systems to support increased consumer access to healthy foods, and the development of a comprehensive national food policy.See Sarah's full bio.

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Photo: Sustainable Food Center

Lapsed Farm Bill Hurts Central Texas Farmers and Low-income Families

October 1, 2018 2:32 PM EDT

When you think of Texas, a thriving local food scene probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind—but a visit to the SFC Farmers’ Market in downtown Austin might change that. The market draws large crowds every Saturday, and it plays a vitally important role in this city: linking small and midsize farmers across central Texas with customers—including those who shop using benefits from federal nutrition assistance programs—who are hungry for fresh produce and a sense of community. But far from Austin, the federal law that gives markets like this one a leg up are in limbo. Read more >

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Photo: grobery/CC BY SA 2.0 (Flickr)

What’s for Dinner? A Preview of the People, Process, and Politics Updating Federal Dietary Guidelines

September 17, 2018 12:20 PM EDT

Months behind schedule, two federal departments have officially kicked off the process for writing the 2020-2025 iteration of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Updated and reissued every five years, these guidelines are the nation’s most comprehensive and authoritative set of nutrition recommendations. And although the process is meant to be science-based and support population health—and has historically done so, with some notable exceptions—there are plenty of reasons to believe that the Trump administration is preparing to pitch a few curveballs.

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Photo: grobery/CC BY SA 2.0 (Flickr)
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Photo: US Department of Agriculture

Why Republican Farm Bill Negotiators Should Think Twice About Attacks on SNAP

August 2, 2018 1:25 PM EDT

This September, after Congress returns from its August recess, we can expect to see the first public meeting of the farm bill conference committee.

The committee—currently composed of a healthy 47 appointees (or “conferees”) from the House and nine from the Senate—will have the difficult task of reconciling two vastly different versions of the bill. The House bill received sharp criticism for its proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), including extreme and unjustified work requirements that would reduce or eliminate benefits for millions of people. The Senate, by contrast, passed a bipartisan bill that left the structure of SNAP largely intact and made additional investments in healthy and sustainable food systems.

Based on what we’ve seen so far, it wouldn’t surprise us if House Republican conferees continue to push for changes that will make it harder for people to access SNAP. But based on the data, this strategy seems pretty misguided.

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Photo: Michael Vadon/CC BY SA 4.0

Trump Administration Declares Poverty is Over, We Can All Go Home Now

July 24, 2018 11:00 AM EDT

Picture it: The loading dock of the city’s largest food bank is shrouded in silence. Pallets of food are stacked inside, draped with cobwebs, waiting for volunteers who will never come to unload them. The food bank is now a relic of a bygone era—when people befallen by any number of ills needed help feeding their families. From a window above, a boy’s face appears. “Haven’t you heard?” he shouts. “Poverty is over!”

Okay, okay—I know this is absurd. But does the Trump administration?

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Photo: Samuel Zeller/Unsplash
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Across the United States, Local Food Investments Link Harvest to Health

July 9, 2018 5:13 PM EDT

Earlier this month, we took a deep, data-driven dive into the state of food and farming across the US with the release of our 50-State Food System Scorecard. Although the country as a whole isn’t exactly the poster child for healthy and sustainable food systems (far from it), there’s a lot of variability in what’s happening at farms, grocery stores, and dinner tables from one state to the next—and we’re here to learn from it.

Of course, we couldn’t assess the food system without taking a good, hard look at how it impacts its end users: us. Read more >

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