Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - The Shocking List of Foods Killing You ｜ Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis

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00:00:30.760 People have the right to not be poisoned.

00:00:33.360 Sounds really common sense.

00:00:34.940 But unfortunately, there are a lot of companies in the food industry that do not agree.

00:00:39.820 That is why Florida is fighting back.

00:00:42.060 They are leading the states in trying to make Maha a reality for Americans like you and me and those that are trying to make healthy choices, especially for our kids.

00:00:51.700 We've got First Lady Casey DeSantis here today to talk about the stunning findings that their researchers have done in the state of Florida.

00:01:00.000 Into the poison that is in so many of our foods and even baby formula.

00:01:04.820 You're going to learn a lot today.

00:01:05.980 I know I did.

00:01:06.780 We've got all of this and more on today's episode of Relatable.

00:01:09.540 First Lady Casey DeSantis, thank you so much for taking the time to join Relatable.

00:01:23.460 I really appreciate it.

00:01:25.180 Hey, thanks for having me.

00:01:26.300 Tell me why Florida is conducting all of these tests on candy, on food, on things like bread and baby formula.

00:01:35.180 Well, first of all, it's the right thing to do, right?

00:01:37.120 I think consumers should have full transparency about what they're consuming and what they're eating.

00:01:41.600 But it really started with the governor, Ron, looking at this and wanting to be a force multiplier to the federal government.

00:01:48.500 What can we do in the free state of Florida to help try to make America healthy and how can we help make Florida healthy?

00:01:54.880 And the Surgeon General and I got together, who's an excellent human being, and we sat down and we said, well, why don't we trust but verify kind of what's going on with our food supply?

00:02:02.800 And that led into testing of baby formula first, because we thought it was important since these babies, that's all they're eating in the first years of life, that we should ensure the integrity of that.

00:02:13.800 And then when we got the results back, we were very startled and obviously disquieted by the fact that there was 17 out of 24 that came back with problematic levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury.

00:02:26.100 So that was the first step.

00:02:27.940 And then we went into other components, and that is the candy, and then ultimately now going on and looking at the bread.

00:02:35.960 Okay, let's talk about the baby formula first, because I find this to be really disturbing.

00:02:40.740 A lot of moms, for a variety of reasons, have to rely on formula to feed their babies. 1.00

00:02:46.000 And you would think that with babies, our most vulnerable citizens in this country, that we would want to be extra careful about what we put in our formula.

00:02:55.540 But it seems like, actually, these industries care a lot less about what's put in formula.

00:03:01.600 I mean, you can't find formula in the United States that actually has whole, healthy ingredients.

00:03:06.700 So what is going on there?

00:03:08.820 So, I mean, it is really problematic.

00:03:11.120 And this is not something that is new, right?

00:03:13.840 So if you go back to last year, the beginning of last year, Consumer Reports came out with their own study showing that there were problematic levels of these contaminants.

00:03:23.100 And then as a result of that, on the federal side, Secretary Kennedy and rightfully President Trump decided to launch Operation Stork Speed, basically saying we need to go in and test a lot of this stuff.

00:03:33.700 Well, here comes Florida, and now this is a year later, and there's still problematic contaminants in the baby formula.

00:03:40.340 So we're like, what gives, right?

00:03:42.320 Because it's particularly frustrating as a mother when you go into a store and you're looking at the store aisles and you're looking at the products on the shelves and you're thinking that everything on there, you have an assumption that it is indeed safe.

00:03:57.200 So you're making the best decision that you can for the best interests of your child.

00:04:02.220 And when we find out that this stuff is in it, it's totally unacceptable.

00:04:06.300 So the question is, is where do we ultimately go from here, right?

00:04:09.860 Like there hasn't been a lot of change.

00:04:11.960 So what we are doing in Florida, we're publishing all of these results so consumers can make informed decisions.

00:04:17.200 You can go to exposingfoodtoxins.com.

00:04:20.500 You can then, through the power of your pocketbook, buy the options that don't have these contaminants.

00:04:25.920 And I think that that's an important thing to say.

00:04:27.980 Not all of them were bad, right?

00:04:29.960 There were some.

00:04:31.000 So don't tell me it can't be done better, right?

00:04:33.520 Don't tell me it's, oh, it's the way that this stuff is sourced and therefore we can't do anything about it.

00:04:37.540 That's false.

00:04:38.400 There are some that are better than others.

00:04:40.420 Parents have a right to know that.

00:04:42.180 And we're doing another thing, too.

00:04:43.720 Not only are we trying to put some sunshine on it by doing our independent testing in Florida, we're also asking and calling on the states to join in.

00:04:52.980 And so I had a great call earlier today with the first lady of North Dakota who is all on board to be able to try to help from her state's capacity.

00:05:01.480 I talked to the first lady of Oklahoma, talked to lieutenant governor of Indiana.

00:05:05.500 We're reaching out to West Virginia and Arkansas and Georgia.

00:05:08.200 And we're having really robust conversations about, OK, let's all be forced multipliers to the federal government.

00:05:13.720 Let's all find data and evidence and the truth about what's in the food supply and then give that to Kennedy and McCary and these guys.

00:05:21.240 And so, therefore, they can come in and hold these companies accountable.

00:05:24.220 And I think that's ultimately how we get to change, utilizing federalism of the states, using these incubators of innovation to try to drive the accountability that ultimately can force, we hope, companies to make better decisions because that's what the consumers want.

00:05:42.400 Yeah. You know, people who can't afford to get their formula from places like Denmark or Germany, where the regulations are different and you can actually find much more wholesome formula brands are kind of forced to choose from what is in the grocery store.

00:06:00.100 As you said, they're trying to make the best choices.

00:06:02.720 They assume that Infamil and these other brands are creating these really good products for babies, that it's all tested.

00:06:08.780 But what you're saying is basically we are forcing especially lower income moms to choose unhealthy items for their vulnerable babies.

00:06:17.660 And people might not realize that this doesn't just have an effect on a baby for, say, the first year of their life, but there could be long term consequences to things like heavy metals and elevated mercury levels in this formula.

00:06:31.220 Can you tell us, like, what has research found about what this can do to a child's behavior in mind?

00:06:36.620 Yeah, you're right about the heavy metals and they don't just leave the body easily, right?

00:06:42.100 Arsenic and all of these things.

00:06:43.440 And unfortunately, what our Surgeon General in Florida has said, that you have a definite increased risk of cancer over the course of your lifetime if you're consuming this early in life.

00:06:52.640 And he looked at something like 20 percent increase.

00:06:54.880 Plus, there's a lot of other things that are bad with consuming arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury.

00:06:59.880 And you're right. It is not fair.

00:07:02.300 It is not fair to any mother to go into a store to have to sit there and wonder which option is better than another when all of it should be safe.

00:07:12.580 All of it, you should have an expectation of it being safe.

00:07:15.460 So one of the things that we've done to partner with the federal government is we looked at WIC, which is Women, Infant and Children.

00:07:22.180 These are women that receive federal assistance to be able to buy formula because we are under a certain amount of moms that apply to that federal group. 1.00

00:07:31.720 Prior to this discovery, there was only one supplier that was supplying that formula because of our work with Secretary Kennedy and others.

00:07:38.960 We are now opening that up to two suppliers.

00:07:41.180 So they have more options and some of those options do not have those harmful metals in it.

00:07:48.400 And so you can you can go to exposingfoodtoxins.com and then you can find an option no matter what to be able to help fit, obviously, your family that doesn't have this junk in it.

00:07:59.980 OK, so we also found that bread has something called glyphosate or not all bread, but a lot of the brands that you're getting in the grocery store.

00:08:06.920 This is another one of those ingredients that most people can't pronounce, so they don't know what it is.

00:08:11.900 And they think, OK, well, if it's in all the bread, then it's probably fine.

00:08:14.740 But what is glyphosate and why should we care about it?

00:08:18.200 Yeah, well, it's weed killer.

00:08:19.600 It's Roundup.

00:08:20.460 I mean, it's the main ingredient that they're using to spray on plants to destroy weeds.

00:08:25.000 Right.

00:08:25.260 It kills plants.

00:08:26.860 And so there's no reason why any of that should be in any product that we're consuming.

00:08:32.100 Clearly, without your consent or knowledge, because I don't see that in the list of ingredients.

00:08:36.240 Right.

00:08:37.640 Glyphosate is really problematic.

00:08:39.220 And of course, our surgeon general has said there's a lot of problems that can happen at the cellular level with your microbiome, with your gut, all of these things that, you know, we're starting to get more and more evidence on.

00:08:49.920 But, you know, when you read the Roundup label and the glyphosate label, you see where it says, like, if you touch it, do X, Y, and Z.

00:08:57.700 If you inhale it, do all of this.

00:08:59.080 If you stop breathing, call 911.

00:09:00.320 Like, there's all of these problematic things with being in close proximity to glyphosate.

00:09:04.420 Probably safe to assume that it's not good in the food supply in bread.

00:09:09.320 So, again, on the website, we put down the breads that were tested and the levels of glyphosate that's in there so that people can make informed decisions and they can find something that doesn't have this stuff in it.

00:09:20.040 Okay. So, this is not an ingredient that people are seeing that's bad for them.

00:09:23.960 This is something that's completely hidden from most consumers.

00:09:27.400 And regulations right now are saying that it doesn't have to be disclosed that the products that someone is consuming at one point was basically sprayed with Roundup, which we know and have known for a long time causes all the health problems that you're talking about.

00:09:39.920 Yeah. So, the silver lining is what I would say with this.

00:09:44.700 Not all of them had it in there.

00:09:46.600 Right. So, again, it is not inevitable.

00:09:49.320 We can do better.

00:09:50.520 But we have to have people all across the United States of America stand up and say enough is enough.

00:09:55.680 Okay. This is not okay the way that we've been going with how our food supply is operating.

00:10:00.340 It is not okay to have levels of glyphosate.

00:10:02.880 It can't just be, well, it happens in the manufacturing process and therefore we can't do anything about it.

00:10:07.360 No. Of course you can. Of course there are better options.

00:10:10.560 Yeah.

00:10:10.740 And so, it takes, I think, every one of us.

00:10:12.760 And honestly, Secretary Kennedy just today was posting something on social media saying, you know what, it's going to take all of us.

00:10:18.660 It's going to take the social media influencers.

00:10:20.380 It's going to take people in elected positions. 0.66

00:10:21.940 It's going to take the consumers and the American people to finally stand up and say, we've had enough.

00:10:26.940 We deserve the right to be able to eat food without having it contaminated with heavy metals and pesticides.

00:10:33.980 Yeah. Seems common sense.

00:10:35.320 And, of course, we know that candy, like nerd ropes, aren't great for us because of the sugar levels.

00:10:40.600 But that's mostly what people are thinking.

00:10:42.220 Maybe at this point people are also realizing that Red Dye 40 actually has a negative effect, especially on kids.

00:10:49.180 But your findings found, or your state's findings found, that it's actually far worse than that.

00:10:54.140 It's not just about the sugar that's terrible for you and this candy.

00:10:58.980 Right. No, it is true.

00:11:00.500 There is a couple of things going on.

00:11:02.460 There is the sugar, which obviously parents know is problematic.

00:11:05.780 There's a generally accepted as safe principle.

00:11:08.360 These are the things that the additives that are put in there.

00:11:11.720 We can get into the antiquated law of what these things actually are.

00:11:15.160 And then there's the third side of it, and that is the pesticides that we see, excuse me, with the arsenic that we're seeing in it.

00:11:23.060 And what we have found through the Florida Department of Health is, and they're testing, we're not talking about one Jolly Rancher, right, on one time.

00:11:30.480 What they're finding is when you eat it in aggregate.

00:11:32.640 But what does that mean?

00:11:33.580 What's the context and perspective for your viewers?

00:11:36.300 Well, our analysis found that if you eat more than 96 nerds over the course of a year for a child, you are exceeding the allowable threshold of arsenic for a child.

00:11:46.240 If you eat more than six Jolly Ranchers, that is exceeding the allowable threshold of arsenic for consuming in a child over the course of a year.

00:11:53.580 So it's realistic to assume that children are eating more than 96 individual nerds.

00:12:02.000 When you look at a box that you get in a movie theater, there's 8,000 nerds in it.

00:12:06.500 And how much food and candy are they consuming on Halloween?

00:12:09.760 Or Valentine's Day is right around the corner.

00:12:12.120 So it's the consumption in aggregate that is very problematic.

00:12:15.260 And that has to be taken into account.

00:12:17.700 And that has to be disclosed to parents so that they can make better decisions.

00:12:21.980 And, again, I go back to the silver lining of all of this stuff.

00:12:24.640 And that is there are some candies that don't have it.

00:12:28.220 As a matter of fact, I was looking at our results.

00:12:30.620 And, again, you can go to exposingfoodtoxins.com to see this data for yourself.

00:12:35.060 Some of the healthier varietals, it's not oxymoronic, right, healthier varietals of candy don't have any arsenic in it like Unreal and Yum Earth.

00:12:44.580 So if you wanted to give the kids something, you can give them something with a little bit of an assurance there's not rat poison in it.

00:12:50.860 Yeah, and we should have that assurance.

00:12:53.360 And like you said, we should have a right to be able to choose from any manner of food and not be poisoned.

00:12:58.420 How much sugar we want to put in our body, that might be a choice that we make.

00:13:01.820 But we should definitely have the choice of not being poisoned.

00:13:05.000 And I just think about, as with so many policies, this disproportionately affects kids who are consuming the formula,

00:13:11.300 who are eating the PB&J sandwiches on the bread, who are getting rewarded.

00:13:15.680 Maybe at school, I know that growing up, we would get rewarded with Jolly Ranchers all the time.

00:13:19.580 You're talking about the threshold, right?

00:13:20.900 Oh, I definitely exceeded that threshold for arsenic when I was growing up.

00:13:24.660 But you just don't know.

00:13:26.300 And so it really is up to parents to be the ones that say, on behalf of, yes, myself, but my kids,

00:13:31.560 who really don't have the ability to discern and to consent to all of this,

00:13:37.220 to demand that we have the transparency and that we set our standards a little bit higher

00:13:42.640 for what people are consuming and buying from the grocery store.

00:13:46.440 Yeah.

00:13:46.580 And so, and here's what I would say, I think transparency is huge.

00:13:49.160 I think the website is huge.

00:13:50.300 The testing that we're doing, we're relying on the other states to be forced multipliers

00:13:53.740 to test as well.

00:13:54.980 But the onus should not be on you to go into a store, to have to get out your phone,

00:14:00.640 to try to figure out which one is better than the other.

00:14:03.000 The onus needs to be on these companies.

00:14:05.360 They're the ones that need to clean up their act as it pertains to the products that they're

00:14:08.540 putting in front of these children.

00:14:10.060 And that's how we get the change.

00:14:11.480 So you should have the confidence that when you go into the grocery store, that what you're

00:14:15.660 consuming and what your children are consuming is safe.

00:14:18.340 It's not fair to parents to have to be there every five minutes trying to look over their

00:14:21.940 shoulder to see if they're probably giving their kids something problematic.

00:14:24.620 Because let's face it, as moms, we're busy, right?

00:14:28.400 Like, and their health and nutrition and well-being, of course, is paramount.

00:14:32.120 But think of all the things that we have to contend with, social media and all of making sure

00:14:36.300 they're getting the best education and they're brushing their teeth and doing all these, like

00:14:39.960 to have to go in to ensure that these companies are doing the right thing.

00:14:44.100 Yes, parents should do that right now, obviously.

00:14:46.720 And that will drive accountability because they're voting essentially with their pocketbook

00:14:50.140 about these products.

00:14:51.340 But at the end of the day, it's up to these companies.

00:14:54.060 These companies need to be motivated to be able to do the right thing, not say it's just

00:15:00.440 the way it is.

00:15:01.640 It's just in the manufacturing process.

00:15:03.080 There's nothing that we can do about it.

00:15:04.180 It's just presidents as a society.

00:15:05.560 No, do better.

00:15:08.420 Yeah.

00:15:08.780 You know, this should be completely bipartisan.

00:15:12.140 This has nothing to do with politics.

00:15:14.040 But have you found in trying to get collaboration from other states that this is kind of breaking

00:15:18.860 down along party lines, that blue states aren't as interested in collaborating or going in

00:15:23.240 the same direction because of some kind of aversion to Maha or RFK Jr.?

00:15:27.680 I haven't seen that yet.

00:15:29.840 No, but I would just pray like at the end of the day, put the partisan politics,

00:15:35.340 aside, this is entry level for government.

00:15:37.580 This is foundational.

00:15:38.520 We need food to survive, right?

00:15:41.060 Like, so we should all be on the same team to be able to drive accountability, right?

00:15:45.740 And so I haven't seen anything negative.

00:15:47.800 But if you start seeing some negative stuff, then maybe you should ask why and where that's

00:15:52.200 coming from.

00:15:53.980 But so far, every conversation that we've had with the states has been really has been

00:15:58.960 positive.

00:15:59.920 Everybody wants to unify forces.

00:16:01.460 As a matter of fact, I talked to Secretary Kennedy just this morning about this, and he

00:16:05.540 is all on board to try to drive some of this change.

00:16:07.960 So I really do think that the moment is now to be able to get this done.

00:16:12.140 I think with the states, of course, with Florida, we're helping to lead the way.

00:16:15.840 But obviously, you know, there's a lot of good things the other states can do.

00:16:19.520 You know, there is some things regulatory-wise that can happen within the FDA.

00:16:23.020 There is some stuff that can be done statutorily within the U.S. Congress.

00:16:26.100 But the leadership of what Kennedy is doing with this Maha movement, I think if we rise up 1.00

00:16:32.140 and we say enough is enough, I really do think that we can change.

00:16:35.980 But we have to keep our pedal to the metal, because the one thing I don't want to see,

00:16:40.620 and I feel like this has happened a little bit with the baby food stuff, baby formula,

00:16:44.780 it's like a blip on the radar.

00:16:46.320 They wait out the news cycle, right?

00:16:47.960 And then it goes away, and nothing ever happens.

00:16:49.980 It's like, no, no, like, it's not okay.

00:16:53.060 There's lead.

00:16:53.820 There's mercury.

00:16:54.520 Like, no, we have to go full stop.

00:16:56.320 And the other thing I would say, if these baby food manufacturers are testing for things

00:17:01.020 like salmonella or bacteria before it ever leaves the facility, then why can't we

00:17:05.960 have them test for lead and mercury and arsenic and cadmium?

00:17:09.580 I mean, it's like low-hanging fruit, right?

00:17:11.800 I think that's something that the U.S. Congress could add and do very quickly.

00:17:15.300 And that is the right thing to do on behalf of families all across this country.

00:17:19.520 Totally.

00:17:20.000 Well, praise God that there is a collaboration and hopefully people putting partisanship

00:17:24.260 to the side, because it really has nothing to do with Republican or Democrat at this point.

00:17:28.720 It's about advocating for, yes, healthy bodies, healthy America, but especially, I think,

00:17:32.560 for children and babies.

00:17:33.600 In a year from now, looking back, how would you measure the success of this initiative

00:17:39.480 in Florida?

00:17:40.820 Well, that is an excellent question.

00:17:42.460 I had somebody tell me once a long time ago, you know, put yourself out, you know, however

00:17:46.060 many months and work backwards.

00:17:47.360 And what would you want to see the result be?

00:17:49.540 I'd like to see no pesticides and lead in any of our food, right?

00:17:52.840 I would like to be able to go to the grocery store.

00:17:54.980 And if my children asked me for something, I could have some assurance that it wasn't toxic

00:17:59.060 or had problematic components in it, right?

00:18:01.000 That would ultimately be the goal.

00:18:03.180 Now, short of that, I think that there are some things that we can do to try to provide

00:18:07.080 the transparency to people.

00:18:09.040 I would hope that we would have such a good testing apparatus in place through the states

00:18:13.100 with accountability from the FDA to be able to have some sort of apparatus to say, oh,

00:18:17.520 okay, you know, we see this.

00:18:18.960 Let me just make sure it's okay.

00:18:20.160 Okay, fine.

00:18:21.140 But again, at the end of the day, I think that the onus needs to be on the companies.

00:18:24.340 Well, parents are doing everything in their power to do the right things.

00:18:27.060 They're busy.

00:18:28.380 Shouldn't all have to be on them to do it.

00:18:30.300 But we hope that ultimately there's some major change that ultimately drives this beyond

00:18:36.680 just testing and trusting but verifying the part of the consumer.

00:18:40.480 Yes, and amen.

00:18:41.140 Well, thank you so much, First Lady Casey DeSantis, for your leadership on this and just praying

00:18:46.020 that it starts the ripple effect that Florida has started in many ways for so many years

00:18:51.100 now.

00:18:51.420 I'm very, very thankful for what Maha is accomplishing and your role in that.

00:18:55.840 Yeah.

00:18:56.040 Well, thank you.

00:18:56.660 And thanks for your help.

00:18:57.700 And don't take your foot off the gas.

00:18:59.180 Yes, it's good to see you.

00:19:00.260 Thank you so much.

00:19:00.660 Good to see you, too.

00:19:01.240 Thank you so much.

00:19:01.560 Good to see you.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - February 14, 2026

The Shocking List of Foods Killing You ｜ Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis

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