Biden administration to launch Instacart partnership as part of ‘Food is Medicine’ summit

The Biden administration is launching partnerships with Instacart, the Rockefeller Foundation and Feeding America as part of a first-of-its-kind summit focused on how food can promote healthier living.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Wednesday will host the “Food is Medicine” summit, a bipartisan event in Washington, D.C. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) are scheduled to attend panel events.

The summit is part of a broader effort by the administration to invest in nutrition and overall wellness as a way to reduce illness and health risks under the “Food is Medicine” banner.

“Food is a powerful tool for preventing and managing health conditions, and HHS’s ‘Food is Medicine’ summit will examine the broad range of approaches that promote health … through nutritious food,” HHS said in a release shared first with The Hill.

As part of the summit, HHS is announcing three public-private partnerships to advance its “Food is Medicine” agenda.

The Rockefeller Foundation will work with HHS to identify how food-based programs can lead to better health outcomes in marginalized communities. Instacart will use its advocacy to expand access to healthy food, and the administration will work with Feeding America food banks to address hunger. 

Congress last year allocated funds meant to advance Food is Medicine policy efforts and directed Becerra and other agency leaders to develop a federal strategy to reduce nutrition-related chronic illnesses.

The White House in September 2022 held a conference on hunger, nutrition and health that included a pledge to end hunger and reduce the prevalence of chronic disease in the U.S. by 2030.