Will RFK Jr. Be Good or Bad for US Grocery?

Referencing recently appointed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” campaign, Steak ‘n Shake announced in late February that locations across several states have transitioned away from using seed oils in their shoestring fries.

Steak ‘n Shake’s COO, Daniel Edwards, told “Fox & Friends” that CEO Sardar Biglari had cherished fries cooked in beef tallow as a child in Europe and a supplier was finally able to make the switch for taste reasons, although the move was also partly tied to health. Steak ‘n Shake broke the news on X with a post declaring, “By March 1 ALL locations. Fries will be RFK’d!”

“Congratulations @SteaknShake for being the first national fast-food chain to begin the transition away from seed oils,” Kennedy tweeted in a since-deleted post, as reported by Politico. “Thanks for leadership in the crusade to Make America Healthy Again.”

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Kennedy’s appointment to lead the Health and Human Services has drawn significant outrage across pharmaceutical and medical communities given his long record of vaccine hesitancy and his skepticism of scientific research on infectious diseases. However, his health platform also involves reimagining America’s diet, including a nutrition-based approach to disease prevention.

“Americans’ overall health is in grievous condition. Over 70% of adults and a third of children are overweight or obese. Diabetes is 10 times more prevalent than it was during the 1960s. Cancer among young people is rising by 1% or 2% a year. Autoimmune diseases, neurodevelopmental disorders, Alzheimer’s, asthma, ADHD, depression, addiction, and a host of other physical and mental health conditions are all on the rise, some of them exponentially,” Kennedy said in opening comments in his often-heated Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing on Jan. 29.

He added, “We will make sure our tax dollars support healthy foods. We will scrutinize the chemical additives in our food supply. We will remove financial conflicts of interest from our agencies. We will create an honest, unbiased, gold-standard science at HHS, accountable to the president, to Congress, and to the American people. We will reverse the chronic disease epidemic and put the nation back on the road to good health.”

Kennedy has long crusaded for remaking the American food system, embracing scientifically dubious theories about seed oils typically used for fried foods, even though the American Heart Association has said there is “no reason” to avoid them. Other controversial food issues the former Democrat has singled out include fluoride in drinking water, which he says should be banned altogether, and raw milk, which he believes has health benefits despite the increased risk of bacterial contamination.

A broader aim in Kennedy’s reform plan that has found support from health experts, lawmakers, and concerned consumers alike — including some Democrats — is eradicating junk food.

At his confirmation hearing, Kennedy claimed the increased intake of “highly chemical-intensive processed foods” was the “primary culprit” behind chronic diseases plaguing many Americans, including autoimmune diseases and obesity. He promised, “We need to fix our food supply, and that’s the No. 1 thing.”

Kennedy has pledged to remove processed foods from school lunches, restrict certain food additives such as dyes in cereal, shift federal agricultural subsidies away from commodity crops widely used in ultra-processed foods, and place limits on which products consumers can buy with government food aid.

Ultra-processed food — including ice cream, candy, soda, and chips but also seemingly “healthy” foods like whole grain breads, breakfast cereals, flavored yogurts, and plant milks — makes up 73% of the U.S. food supply.

In a switch, the push to reform America’s diet is being driven largely by those on the right after being a key pillar of the left for decades.

Kennedy “will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA,” Colorado’s Democratic Governor Jared Polis wrote on social media after he was announced, welcoming his nomination. After receiving public backlash, Polis qualified his endorsement, following up on social media that “science must remain THE cornerstone of our nation’s health policy.”

A broader bi-partisan force may still not be enough to overcome “Big Food,” which collectively wields immense political influence and has successfully thwarted previous efforts to regulate its products or marketing.

“The U.S. is very, very important to us, and we are monitoring the situation,” Nestle CEO Laurent Freixe told Reuters days before Kennedy’s confirmation. “Packaged foods are very, very important for mankind. They have brought safe foods to many. They preserve the quality of the food. They allow us to fight food waste.”