US food manufacturers “deliver safe, affordable and convenient products”, one of the country’s principal trade bodies has said, after President-elect Trump named industry critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary.
Trump yesterday (14 November) appointed Kennedy, also known by his initials RFK Jr., as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
As head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Kennedy, who has taken aim at parts of the US food industry in recent weeks, will be the main health advisor to the US President. The department oversees agencies including the US Food and Drug Administration.
In August, Kennedy, a former Democrat, ended his own presidential campaign and endorsed Trump’s push for the White House. He has launched Make America Healthy Again, a campaign that “prioritises regenerative agriculture, protects natural resources and removes harmful toxins from our food, water and air”.
Kennedy has pinned the “obesity epidemic” in the US on “ultra-processed food”, claiming the country has a “broken food system”.
In a statement provided to Just Food today, Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of federal affairs at industry body Consumer Brands Association (CBA), said: “The makers of America’s household brands deliver safe, affordable and convenient products that consumers want, need and trust, every day. Keeping consumers and their families safe is our number one priority.”
The CBA counts major food manufacturers operating in the US as members, including Campbell, Conagra Brands, Danone, Mondelez International and Nestlé.
Gallo added: “The federal regulatory agencies within HHS operate under a science and risk-based mandate and it is critical that framework remains under the new administration. As the largest domestic manufacturing employer, supporting more than 22 million American jobs, we are prepared to work with the confirmed appointee and qualified experts within HHS to support public health, build consumer trust and promote consumer choice.”
In a broadcast on Sirius XM last December, Kennedy, while still with an eye on a presidential run, also said the US Department of Agriculture had been “captured by the big agricultural interests”, listing some of the country’s largest ag and meat companies.
Earlier this month, before the US election, he said that a Trump administration would advise the country’s water systems to remove fluoride from drinking water.
Kennedy has also raised questions about vaccines, including making assertions they are associated with autism, even though research has dismissed the link.
