Tuesday, June 17, 2025, 12:00 PM-1:00 PM (ET)

Making America Healthy Again: How is the MAHA agenda impacting the food industry?

Food industry policy and legal experts provide insights into the Making America Healthy Again agenda, including an update on the MAHA Commission, reforms to the GRAS regulations, banning of food dyes, and more.  Our speakers come with a wealth of policy and legal experience, representing some of the most major food manufacturing brands in the country.

Jessica O’Connell, Partner, co-chairs Covington’s market-leading global Food, Drug, and Device Practice Group. Drawing from nearly twenty years of experience working at FDA and in private practice, Jessica provides strategic advice to a broad range of companies and trade associations in navigating regulatory frameworks and engaging with food and drug regulatory bodies and Congress. She works closely with clients to develop product strategies that are low risk from both a regulatory and litigation perspective while also meeting marketing goals and objectives. She also regularly counsels clients regarding potential crises, such as recalls, regulator investigations, and other unanticipated regulatory attention.

Jessica’s practice focuses on food and beverages, dietary supplements, cosmetics, and OTC drugs. She has engaged with Congress and state legislators on cosmetic and drug legislative efforts and alternative protein and other food labeling requirements, and has represented clients in both FDA and FTC investigations, including negotiating consent decrees and responding to civil investigative demands, and actively practices before the NAD.

Jessica has specific expertise regarding the regulatory framework for new and emerging food technologies, including alternative protein ingredients and products and specialized nutrition products such as infant formula and medical foods, the marketing of cosmetics and OTC drugs, including sunscreens, Proposition 65, organic labeling, the federal and state legal landscapes surrounding the development and marketing of products containing CBD, and claim substantiation requirements, as well as manufacturing and supply chain requirements under FSMA and FDA’s implementation of MoCRA.

Mary Dee Beal, Principal, joined Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid in 2022, bringing over a decade of federal policy experience in both the Executive Branch and Congress. She supports the firm’s health care and energy practices with expertise in policy and legislative strategy.

Previously, she served on the Senate Republican Policy Committee for Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), advising on tax, budget, appropriations, and small business issues. She also held senior roles at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including Senior Advisor to Secretary Sonny Perdue and Acting Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary, where she led key initiatives on climate, innovation, and food supply chain resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier in her career, Mary Dee was Legislative Director in the U.S. House for Reps. Drew Ferguson and Austin Scott. She remains active in the D.C. community and chaired the 2020–2021 Taste of the South gala, raising $400,000 for nonprofits.

A Statesboro, Georgia native, she holds a B.A. in Psychology from Mercer University.

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