Michael F. Jacobson

In 2022, after he resigned from CSPI's board of directors and his position as senior scientist, Jacobson founded the National Food Museum. That nascent institution "explores food in all its dimensions." The museum's exhibits and other activities will focus on the history of the human and American diets, food marketing, ethnic cuisines, farm animal welfare, and, especially, the impact of food and farming on health and the environment.

He also led efforts to reduce the sodium content of processed foods, such as soups, snack foods, and processed meats. Excess consumption of sodium increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes. In addition to publishing several books and reports, CSPI's work led to the FDA's issuing voluntary sodium-reduction guidelines in October 2021.

Beginning in 1993, Jacobson spearheaded efforts to require that artificial trans fat, a potent cause of heart disease, be labeled on food packages. As evidence of trans fat's harmfulness accumulated, in 2004 CSPI petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, the source of artificial trans fat. The FDA banned that oil in 2015, with June 18, 2018, being the effective date to stop using it.

Jacobson stepped down as executive director of CSPI in October 2017 and then, as a senior scientist at CSPI, published Salt Wars: The Battle Over the Biggest Killer in the American Diet.. That book addresses the scientific controversy about the health impact of lowering sodium consumption, industry opposition to government action to lower sodium, and advice to consumers.

In 2005, Jacobson's organization proposed mandatory warning labels on all containers of sugar-sweetened soft drinks, to warn consumers about the possible health risks of consuming these beverages on a regular basis.

He founded Food Day, a nationwide celebration of healthy, affordable, and sustainably produced food and a grassroots campaign for better policies. Food Day was celebrated annually from 1975–77 and 2011–15. Jacobson also founded Big Business Day and the Center for the Study of Commercialism.

Jacobson co-founded the Center for Science in the Public Interest in 1971, along with two fellow scientists (James B. Sullivan, Albert J. Fritsch) he met while working at the Center for the Study of Responsive Law in Washington, DC. When his colleagues left CSPI in 1977, Jacobson became its executive director. In 2017 he was replaced as the executive director by Peter Lurie and held the position of Senior Scientist; he remained on the board of directors of the organization until 2022. He has been a national leader in the movement for healthier diets, focusing both on education and obtaining laws and regulations. It was Jacobson who coined the now widely used phrases "junk food" and "food porn". In 2022 Jacobson founded the National Food Museum.

Michael F. Jacobson (born July 29, 1943), who holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is an American scientist and nutrition advocate.