Dr. Michael Jacobson Helped America Rethink Its Plate – and He’s Not Done Yet
Type: Profile
For over five decades, Dr. Michael F. Jacobson has been one of the most influential voices in American public health, pioneering a science-based, consumer-centered approach to food advocacy. His work—from Center for Science in the Public Interest (CPSI) bold reform campaigns to more recently championing the establishment of the National Food Museum—has shaped and continues to shape how Americans understand food and healthy eating.
Born and raised in Chicago in the 1940s and 1950s, his early years were steeped in a typical Midwestern diet at the time – heavy on hamburgers and light on vegetables. His father, an electrical engineer, encouraged his early interest in science. Jacobson earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago and later completed a PhD in microbiology at MIT in 1969, after beginning graduate studies in microbiology at UC San Diego.
The activism of the 1960s sparked a shift in Jacobson’s ambitions. While volunteering in 1970 with lawyer and consumer advocate Ralph Nader in Washington, D.C., he was unexpectedly tasked with writing a book on food additives—despite having no background in the subject. That assignment would become the turning point of his career. In 1971, Jacobson co-founded CSPI with two fellow scientists who were also volunteers with Nader. Their goal was novel and ambitious: to create a consumer advocacy organization led by scientists, not lawyers. Jacobson led the part focused on food safety and nutrition.
“When I first got to Washington, I thought getting an article in The New York Times would quickly change public opinion and policy,” Jacobson said with a laugh. “How naïve I was.”
“Starting a new group was a little daunting, with three scientists who didn't have much in the way of organizational experience or experience in setting up a new group, no experience in fundraising,” Jacobson said. “Slowly, we learned how to set up an organization, made mistakes, tried new things, and I think there were a couple of early successes that laid the groundwork for the whole organization.”
Jacobson’s first book, Eater’s Digest (1972), helped establish CSPI’s early credibility. His second, Nutrition Scoreboard (1973), was a breakout success, selling over 100,000 copies via direct mail. The book’s simple, point-based nutrition system drew national attention—especially its scathing scores for soda and other junk foods—and helped finance CSPI’s early work. In fact, Jacobson is widely credited with coining the terms “junk food” and “food porn.”
In 1974, CSPI launched Nutrition Action Healthletter, which grew to over one million subscribers, becoming the largest-circulation health newsletter in the United States, and presumably the world. It offered science-based information on diet and health while also supporting CSPI’s financial independence.
Though the fledgling nonprofit’s founders had little experience in organizing, fundraising, or public relations, they learned on the job and made up for inexperience with purpose, creativity, and persistence. Jacobson became CSPI’s executive director in 1977, serving in the role until 2017, and remained on the board until 2022.
Over his decades at CSPI, Jacobson played a central role in many of the organization’s most impactful advocacy campaigns. A defining victory was the 25-year effort to ban artificial trans fat. Once thought harmless, trans fat was found to be a major contributor to heart disease. After extensive research, education, and policy advocacy, the Food & Drug Administration banned partially hydrogenated oils—the main source of trans fat—in 2016, stimulating similar policy changes around the world.
CSPI also led efforts to require Nutrition Facts labels on food packages in the 1990s, a transformative public health measure that gave millions of Americans access to detailed nutritional information. That campaign, backed by a wide coalition of public health organizations and members of Congress, also helped curb misleading health claims and brought greater transparency to supermarket shelves.
Another area of success was school nutrition reform. Under the leadership of CSPI's Margot Wootan and with support from First Lady Michelle Obama, CSPI helped pass legislation to improve school meals and remove junk food from vending machines and cafeterias—work that faced surprising resistance from some anti-hunger advocates.
Jacobson and CSPI were instrumental in raising awareness about sugary drinks, added sugars, and high sodium intake, pushing for food industry accountability and government action. One particularly poignant victory was the FDA’s eventual ban on sulfites in fresh produce, which followed a campaign sparked by CSPI's discovery that those preservatives had caused fatal allergic reactions in unsuspecting diners.
“It’s impossible to measure the impact of all that publicity, the dozen or so books that we published, the media appearances, but I think we really contributed to a better understanding about the effect of diet on health, and also the fraud that's out there, particularly with regard to dietary supplements,” Jacobson said.
Throughout his career, Jacobson has balanced policy advocacy and public education, recognizing that long-term change required both systemic reform and informed consumers. CSPI used media—books, newsletters, posters, TV, and later the internet—to educate millions, while also building coalitions, engaging scientists, meeting with regulators, and lobbying Congress to create policy change.
A compelling communicator, he has written books such as Six Arguments for a Greener Diet and Restaurant Confidential, and authored influential CSPI reports, including Salt: The Forgotten Killer and Liquid Candy.
Yet for all his victories, Jacobson remains candid about the challenges ahead. Obesity rates have tripled since CSPI’s founding, and ultra-processed foods continue to dominate American diets despite being low in real nutrition, loaded with additives, sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats, while also being linked to chronic disease. Still, CSPI’s impact—from transforming food labels to removing dangerous additives—has saved lives and empowered consumers.
In 2022, after stepping down as CSPI Senior Scientist, Jacobson began to envision the launch of the first-of-its-kind National Food Museum, a bold and ambitious effort to explore the many dimensions of food: cultural, environmental, historical, and health-related. Here, he channels his passion for museums and public nutrition education. The museum explores food history, marketing, diets, sustainability, farm animal welfare, and global health – continuing Jacobson’s lifelong mission to inform and empower consumers.
"Food touches every single person,” he said. “It’s been with us forever, and agriculture for at least 10,000 years. Yet, there’s no museum devoted to this essential part of life."
The idea stems from a lifelong love of museums—he grew up visiting Chicago's many cultural institutions—and from CSPI’s own history of creating hands-on educational displays.
But turning that dream into a reality has proven daunting. “Starting a nonprofit like CSPI was easy by comparison,” Jacobson admitted. “A museum? It needs tons of money, major donors, a board of directors. We haven’t yet found our generous billionaire.”
So far, efforts have focused on laying groundwork: building a website, exploring virtual exhibits, and planning possible pop-ups or traveling displays.
As Jacobson reflects on the state of food and public health today, he expresses concern about the erosion of protections under the current administration, calling the federal government “dismantled” in many areas.
Still, there are moments of hope.
“RFK Jr. has been a surprising advocate on healthier diets and pushing for restrictions on synthetic food dyes that affect kids’ behavior,” he noted. “It’s wild to see conservative states rushing to regulate ingredients they’ve ignored for decades.”
JHF was an early supporter of the National Food Museum and has long been a champion of Jacobson’s work.
“It was a surprise connection,” Jacobson said. “We’re not in Pennsylvania, not even focused on health care in the traditional sense. But Karen and the Foundation have been incredibly supportive—financially and morally.”
In what he describes as “the often-impersonal world of philanthropy,” Jacobson described the Foundation’s support as “unusual—in the best way. They’ve believed in this work from the beginning.”
Whether advocating for clearer food labels, protecting children from misleading marketing, or reimagining the role of food in American culture, Jacobson’s work has shaped the nation’s approach to nutrition and public health. And with the National Food Museum on the horizon, however slowly it may be taking shape—he’s not done yet.
“Food is everything,” he said. “And the stories we tell about it matter.”
