Senate confirms RFK Jr. as health and welfare secretary
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was voted by GOP Senator Mitch McConnell and confirmed as HHS secretary for the 52-48 Senate vote.
With a famous sweet tooth, President Donald Trump received a handpicked selection of his favorite red and pink starburst candies from former House majority leader Kevin McCarthy.
But if his health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks, his artificially stained technicolor candy era is numbered.
But Trump doesn’t have to worry. still.
Mars Wrigley, the maker of M&MS, Starburst and Skittles, is resisting dyeing Kennedy’s artificial food dyes, and America is once again making the agenda healthy. However, the company told USA Today it was “exploring” alternatives.
But to the frustration of food advocates and Kennedy’s HHS, it doesn’t make a promise on the timeline, Just like other major food companies have in recent months.
A spokesperson for Mars Wrigley believes Conglomation has yet to identify a “completely effective solution” and believes it is “premature to make a commitment,” Conglomatert still believes it can be met. A spokesperson said the company expects it will continue its efforts and offer consumers an option for artificial dyes “in the near future.” An internal study conducted by the company five years ago found that consumers around the world don’t care about artificial dyes in candies except in Europe.
Kennedy’s boss may be one of them.
During a workday event hosted by the White House in May, White House spokesperson Caroline Leavitt told reporters’ children that Trump had “a fair amount of candy” and liked pink starbursts and Torcee Rolls.
The president also uses candy as a diplomatic tool. He reportedly threw two starburst candies at the 2018 G7 Summit with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying, “Don’t say I won’t give you anything.”
Prohibits artificial dyes from the national food supply
Kennedy, who has long denounced chronic health issues in America, including obesity and heart disease in the food industry, announced in April that eight artificial dyes will be phased out by the end of 2026, including those found in candies, ice cream, soft drinks and jams.
A 2021 study by the California Environmental Protection Agency found that synthetic food dyes were consumed for hyperactivity and other neurobehavioral issues in some children. Similar studies have led the European Union to limit food coloring. Last year, California banned six dyes for use in public schools. This year, West Virginia followed suit, with others like Virginia and Utah banning them at public school lunches.
While no formal agreements or laws have been passed to officially ban food dyes, Kennedy said the HHS and the FDA have “mutual understanding” with the food industry where they are being removed.
A statement from the Center for Science and Science in the Public Interest, known at the time as the voluntary nature of the agreement “disappointing.”
Kennedy has received support across party lines in denouncement of the food industry for chronic health issues in the country, including obesity and heart disease, according to results from the NBC News Decist Desk Poll in June. At the same time, critics defeated him by his controversial views and policy moves on vaccines.
Since Kennedy’s appointment, several food companies, including Kraft Heinz, General Mills, Nestlé, Tyson Foods and Mars rival Hershey, have committed to removing all artificial food dyes from their food within the next few years.
The Difficult Battle: Get super processed foods from the menu
Getting ultra-processed food from the menu is a difficult battle.
Earlier this month, Kennedy praised the Oklahoma-based company, offering $7 meals to Medicaid and Medicare enrollees to provide meals without “additives.”
However, an Associated Press review of the Mom’s Meals menu, which includes ingredients and nutritional labels, showed that the company’s offering is “a hot, ultra-highly processed food type that Kennedy routinely criticizes for making people sick.”
And it’s not just the battle with businesses that Kennedy has to rent, but also the consumer’s actions. Ask his boss.
Trump’s love for the Big Mac is well known. The book by two former aides described a McDonald’s dinner order consisting of two Big Macs by Trump, two filetfish and a chocolate malt milkshake.
Even Kennedy was photographed holding what looked like a Big Mac while sitting at a table with Trump and his inner circle last November shortly after Trump’s reelection in November. It attracted the attention of the public given that Kennedy’s constant screed was constant on super-processed foods.
Mars re-searches candy artificial food dyes
Christopher Gindlesparger, senior vice president of public relations and communications for the National Confectionery Association, a trade group for the US confectionery industry, told USA Today that some of the industry’s challenges include the substantial costs associated with the lengthy remodeling process and the sourcing of natural colours.
“Companies that create natural colours are simply not enough to meet the demand,” says Gindlesperger.
In 2016, Mars voluntarily announced that it would remove all artificial colors from its “human food portfolio around the world.”
But it changed gears in 2020 after an internal team developed “addressing new elements, safe regulatory approvals, manufacturing preparations and understanding consumer needs and expectations.”
The company found that consumer expectations for food colours vary widely across markets and categories. For dinner meals, they preferred natural ingredients, but when it comes to candies, that was not a concern.
“As a result, we will continue to prioritize efforts to remove artificial colors in Europe, where consumers express this preference, but we will not remove all artificial colors from our Martian snack portfolio in other markets,” it said in a statement on its website. The statement dates back to 2020, the company confirmed.
Kennedy and many food advocates repeatedly lamented a large list of US additives in comparison to Europe.
An estimated 10,000 food additives have been approved for use in the United States, in contrast to the 411 European Union, according to the Harvard Law School’s Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation.
“We are disappointed that the company will prioritize artificial dye removal in Europe, but will not do the same in the US,” said Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for HHS.
Food advocate Bani Hari, who coincides with Kennedy’s Maha agenda, said he doesn’t know what the company’s business strategy is, given that states like West Virginia are beginning to ban them. Texas is implementing new warning label requirements for food and beverages that contain certain artificial dyes and additives.
“After Hershey declared them to be removed, I think it’s difficult to see Mars being the only major candy company left on the shelf with artificial dye,” she said. “What are their long-term plans? Are they banning their dyes by stopping sales in West Virginia and other states? Do you want to label Texas products with warning labels?”
Kennedy and his associates say that it could hold the key to forcing states to change the way businesses do things, rather than long federal regulations.
When it comes to consumer sentiment for artificial dyes, data from five years ago on Mars may no longer reflect reality, Hari said.
The self-proclaimed Mahamama said Kennedy’s “leadership” on the issue of educating all Americans has changed things.
“More than ever, more moms are realising the dangers of artificial dyes,” she said.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA Today. x You can follow her at @swapnavenugopal
