A total of 258 food and agriculture groups representing millions of American farmers, ranchers, producers, and manufacturers on Tuesday sent Trump administration officials a letter calling on the Make America Healthy Again Commission to create greater transparency and input in the commission’s activities.

The letter, which was sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, was released by the American Soybean Association and coordinated by ASA, the National Corn Growers Association, the National Oilseed Processors Association and the Corn Refiners Association. The signers include the Republican-leaning American Farm Bureau Federation and the Democratic-leaning National Farmers Union. 

In the letter, the groups said, “The process by which the commission’s most recent report was created lacked transparency and any opportunity for public engagement. As a result, the report contained numerous errors and distortions that have created unfounded fears about the safety of our food supply. While we appreciate recent outreach to some stakeholders in the food and agriculture sector, to genuinely provide the transparency and gold-standard science pledged in the report, we urge the administration to formally include farmers, ranchers, and food producers in a collaborative stakeholder process throughout all future work of the commission. We also advise the administration to create the opportunity for public comment on all future reports and activities of the commission.” 

The MAHA Commission has a report on policy recommendations based on the first report due in mid-August. The groups said they are hopeful there will be more formal processes for input established prior to the next report’s development and release.