WSJ What’s News - New Rules Are Coming for Food Companies’ Ingredients

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

P.M. Edition for Aug. 10. The FDA has laid out new rules intended to make the food system more transparent, part of an overhaul promised by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. WSJ reporter Liz Essley Whyte discusses how the new rules would work and why guidelines for ultraprocessed foods didn’t come today. Plus, as Iran strengthens its demands in negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Gulf states have begun accepting a new reality: that Tehran will control the strait for the foreseeable future. We hear from WSJ Middle East correspondent Benoit Faucon about what they are doing about it. And more than 70 people have been killed in a 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Colombia. Alex Ossola hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Food companies are facing new rules for adding new ingredients. Plus, Boeing sells its flying taxi venture. And Gulf oil producers have started accepting that Tehran's control of the Strait of Hormuz is their new reality. What they don't want is to have a situation where fees will be paid for crossings, because they feel it will basically take their entire economy's hostage from Iran. It's Monday, August 10th. Alex O'SLeft for the Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long promised an overhaul of the country's food system. Today, it got a step closer. The FDA proposed new transparency rules for food ingredients. We will have a consistent federal framework to study these foods, to understand their effects on human health, and to build stronger and lasting nutrition policy. Liz Esley-White covers the FDA for the journal and joins me now from Washington. Liz, one big rule outlined today is that the FDA plans to require companies to notify the agency when they introduce a new substance into food products. How would that work and who has been pushing for this?

Food safety advocates have had a problem with how we regulate food ingredients for years. There's a system in this country that is called the grass loophole by opponent. basically if a company declares its ingredient generally recognized as safe grass, they can put that in the food supply and don't even need to notify the FDA. And so the federal government really doesn't even have a picture of every substance that is in the U.S. food supply because of this. And what this is proposing is to require companies to notify FDA when they say, yes, we have self-certified that our product is safe. And just to be clear, when we say a new substance, do we mean completely new to the food supply or do we mean like a new ingredient to a product? We mean any kind of new chemical or new ingredient that's going into food that hasn't previously been recognized by the FDA or used for many decades. If you come up with a new ingredient from a plant in your backyard that no one has ever used before, that's what we're.

talking about, that kind of thing, would be something that the FDA is now asking for notification about. Kennedy also promised that a definition of older processed foods would be released soon. That's something that food industry groups have been really opposed to for a while, but it was not actually part of today's announcement. Where does this effort stand, and why is it so controversial? Health officials say it's still an interagency review. They did not give a timeline for when it might be released.

It's controversial because if you define a... ultra-processed food just by the level of processing with no other nuance, then yogurt is an ultra-processed food, and that's something that Kennedy considers very healthy. And food companies are worried that no matter which way the federal government does this, it will end up being detrimental to them and potentially open up more litigation that they would rather not see. That was WSJ reporter, Liz Esley-White. Turning to corporate news, we've got a few deals to report today. The journal has learned that some of Wall Street's biggest firms have agreed to help NVIDIA raise $500 billion to fund its AI infrastructure buildout. The firms, including

BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and KKR, would assemble the financing in different vehicles, not just one large collaboration, according to a person familiar with the matter. And it could grow even larger than $500 billion. The deal could help signal to stock investors that NVIDIA and other AI companies have the firepower to build the infrastructure they need. Boeing has agreed to take a nearly 20% stake in arrival, Archer Aviation. As part of the deal, Boeing will hand over control of its flying taxi venture called WISC, though it would still have access to WISC's autonomous flight tech. It's the latest in a series of efforts by CEO Kelly Orkberg to sell off parts of Boeing

and stabilize its core commercial jet and military businesses. And Intel says it'll offer $15 billion in common stock, citing strong customer demand. Intel has benefited from the AI boom because the next wave of AI technology, agents that complete tasks for users on their own, rely on central processing units or CPUs, and those are the company's specialty. Intel said it would use the proceeds for general purposes, including capital expenditures and working capital. Intel shares closed more than 4% lower. Coming up, Gulf states are betting that Iran will keep control of the Strait of Hormuz, and now they're figuring out what to do about it. that story and more after the break. As we discussed on this morning show, Iran is making tougher demands in negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

And though last week the Trump administration said that a deal with Iran was close at hand, others are feeling less certain that one may come at all. Gulf state oil producers are starting to accept that Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz is the new normal. For more, I'm joined now by WSJ Middle East correspondent Benoit. Foucahn. Benoit, how did the Gulf states reach this point? Arab monarchies on the other side of the Gulf first got bombed and effectively got dragged into a conflict that didn't want to have because they were hosting, in most cases, you know, US bases. And now basically they're facing another consequence of the war, which is the fact that Iran

wants to take control and is adamant that he will keep control of the straight-old bombers, meaning effectively that it will turn the spigots of their oil exports on and off at will. They don't want that consequence, but they also know that they need to somehow engage with Iran to have a say or at least have some understanding and how this is going to be handled going forward. So the leader of that conversation has been Oman, but Oman is really sort of coordinating and consulting with the other countries. What they don't want is to have a situation where fees will be paid for crossings, because they feel it would basically take their entire economy's hostage from Iran.

And of course, those fees are something Iran's been pushing for. So what are these countries doing about this? We've seen some efforts by countries like Saudi Arabia to route oil through other paths like the Red Sea. But that hasn't always gone great. There was an interesting development where a number of these countries, when I'm thinking especially about Qatar, which has no alternatives, they started to basically emulate Iran's tactics. They hired crews that can navigate with their radio signal off, and that's exactly what Iran has done for a long time.

The other one has been using alternative pipelines, so the UAE as a pipeline that ends in the port of Fujera, which is in the Gulf of Oman. It's outside the Strait of Hormuz. And Saudi Arabia has a pipeline that also divert to the Red Sea and with the option effectively to exports to the Sumet Pipelines, so going to the Mediterranean. What does this state of affairs mean for the balance of power in the Gulf? It gives two options. One option is you can have Iran that can hold offstage the exports of oil for its neighbors and effectively the biggest source of income. Or you have the other option, which is a return to war from the U.S. So far, the U.S. is more opting for economic pressure on Iran.

But the problem we have is there is no understanding between the different parties. One Iran wants to have full control and the other one refuse effectively to have that control, especially if it comes with payments. That was WSJ Middle East correspondent, Benoit Foucan. In light of Iran's new list of demands, investors are waiting for updates on the straight. Oil prices rose today, with rent crude futures trading above $85 a barrel. In stocks, the major U.S. indexes pulled back from last week's record highs. The NASDAQ fell 0.3%, while the Dow and the S&P 500 both fell about 0.1%. In other international news, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Colombia this morning.

Local officials say that more than 70 people were killed in at least five cities around the quake's epicenter in San Jose de Palmar in the northern province of Chokou. Authorities say the death count could rise because they don't know how many people are trapped under rubble. The disaster is an early challenge for Colombia's new president, Abelardo de la Espritia, who is sworn in on Friday. And officials in the UK say that cameras installed on British naval drones sent data to an internet address in China. The issue was discovered in a routine cyber vulnerability assessment, and Britain's Ministry of Defense said the signal didn't broadcast any sensitive information. But the discovery raises questions about the supply chains for military technology, particularly for drones. Many European and American defense companies have spent years trying to wean themselves off Chinese components and say they've succeeded. But figuring out where every tiny drone part comes from can be a challenge.

And that's what's news for this Monday afternoon. Additional sound courtesy of Reuters. Today's show is produced by Anthony Bansy and Danny Lewis with Deputy Editor Chris Zinsley. I'm Alex Oceloaf for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.