Earlier this year, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. seemed poised to challenge the powerful food industry.
The Department of Health and Human Services had concluded that food companies should produce “any detailed safety studies” showing that certain ingredients common in ultra-processed foods are generally safe and aren’t contributing to chronic health conditions, according to a March draft of a letter that the secretary sent to the White House for review, and that was obtained by The Washington Post. In the draft, Kennedy praised a citizen petition by David Kessler, a former head of the Food and Drug Administration, who asked the agency to scrutinize some of the core ingredients used in industrial processing.
