“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s push to overhaul the food system is running into resistance from food companies and corners of the Trump administration itself.
White House and Trump administration officials have slowed progress on some of Kennedy's hallmark initiatives -- including efforts on ingredient oversight and ultraprocessed food -- over concerns they could further drive up food prices, people familiar with the matter said.
Food-industry groups, representing companies such as PepsiCo and WK Kellogg, have been delivering a similar message to lawmakers, federal agencies and the White House, especially about policies being developed at the state level.
The messages have gained traction with White House staffers focused on affordability as the Iran war accelerates the pace of inflation and threatens to influence voters in midterm elections.
Grocery prices in April were roughly 26% higher than they were five years ago, according to the Labor Department.
The Trump administration has made big moves on food, such as securing voluntary commitments from companies to remove artificial dyes and completing a system for reviewing the safety of chemicals in food products, according to senior administration officials. They said such efforts are difficult, time-consuming and require many conversations among agencies, companies and the public.
"Affordability is very important," said Calley Means, a top Kennedy aide who is posted in the White House. "It comes into a lot of conversations on every topic."
The Department of Health and Human Services didn't respond to requests for comment.
"In order for the 'Make America Healthy Again' movement to be successful, it needs to take into account all of our needs to eat healthier while factoring in affordability," said Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Vaden at The Wall Street Journal's Global Food Forum this past week.
Kennedy's rise to prominence and the birth of MAHA caught the U.S. food industry off guard. He vowed to strip some chemicals from the food supply and wage war on chronic disease. He has also urged individual states to pass laws tightening food regulation.
Officials including Kennedy have been supportive of a petition requesting the Food and Drug Administration crack down on refined carbohydrates, citing research showing elevated health risks.
The petition, filed last August by former FDA Commissioner David Kessler, hasn't been answered by the Trump administration, despite monthslong conversations in the White House about the best approach, people familiar with the matter said.
Kennedy told podcast host Joe Rogan in February that the government would unveil a definition of ultraprocessed food -- a crucial step that would allow it to target such food with regulation -- in April. The definition would be followed soon after, he said, by a rule requiring food manufacturers to put new labels on the front of packages indicating whether they are healthy. Those efforts also haven't materialized.
Another initiative -- overhauling the FDA's oversight of new food ingredients -- has been unpopular with some White House officials because they see it as adding rules rather than eliminating them, people familiar with the matter said.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins earlier this year said a plan to update the nation's school-meals program to align with new federal dietary guidelines would be out by midspring. Staffers for Rollins have been battling Kennedy allies over how strict the rule should be, people familiar with the matter said.
Vaden said this past week that the school-meals rule would be issued later this year.
The biggest concern for many food companies is a slew of new, MAHA-backed bills moving through the nation's statehouses that take varying approaches to regulating food additives, ultraprocessed foods and more.
Food and beverage companies last year formed a coalition called Americans for Ingredient Transparency to fight what they describe as a "patchwork" of regulations that create a complicated and costly regulatory environment. AFIT, as the group is known, released a study in February showing that legislation passed in Louisiana, Texas and West Virginia -- which ban ingredients or require new warning labels or QR codes -- would result in a 12% increase in annual grocery spending in those states.
AFIT is pushing for a single, national standard on matters of ingredient safety and transparency, to be set by the FDA.
"For affordability, the patchwork is just the sort of big 800-pound gorilla," said Rhonda Bentz, executive vice president of public affairs for the Consumer Brands Association, which represents major food companies and is a member of AFIT. "We're not in the luxury-goods business."” [1]
Lithuanians eat a lot of cheap junk food and have most common in the country death from heart and blood vessel diseases. Somebody from us should read up what MAHA is doing and bring to Lithuania.
"Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) is a U.S. government and grassroots initiative focused on fighting chronic diseases by eliminating ultra-processed junk foods, removing chemical additives/pesticides from the food supply, and overhauling federal nutrition programs.
The U.S. White House MAHA framework and HHS.gov MAHA portal outline these initiatives:
• Eliminate Ultra-Processed Foods: Restricting artificial dyes, industrial seed oils, and toxic food additives.
• Nutritional Focus: Shifting food pyramids away from grains toward natural proteins, whole foods, and saturated fats (e.g., beef, butter), though this high-fat approach is heavily debated by cardiologists that are paid by food industry.
Food science is the least scientific of all science even if you include astrology.
MAHA advocates recommend avoiding industrial seed oils (e.g., canola, soybean, corn oils), arguing they are highly processed and promote inflammation.
• Systemic Changes: Adjusting government welfare and school meal programs (like the U.S. SNAP program) to ban the purchase of junk food.
Conclusion:
• The MAHA Approach: Suggests eating "real food" and removing chemicals to restore metabolic health, prioritizing natural whole foods.
1. U.S. News: MAHA's Food Overhaul Is Meeting Resistance --- Some companies and Trump officials push to weigh costs of any regulations. Newman, Jesse; Whyte, Liz Essley. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 06 June 2026: A3.
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