The Trump administration is preparing to "act on" a petition to review the safety of ultraprocessed ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, U.S. Health and Human Service Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, though he stopped short of calling for new regulation for the packaged food industry.
Appearing on "60 Minutes," Kennedy said the administration intends to review a citizen petition filed by former FDA commissioner Dr. David Kessler last August that called for reevaluating the safety of processed refined carbohydrates, some of the most commonly used ingredients in industrial food manufacturing.
Kessler argued that new scientific information proves these ingredients shouldn't be allowed under the FDA's "Generally Recognized as Safe" system, an expedited approval process that's also come under scrutiny by Kennedy.
“We will act" on the Kessler petition, Kennedy said on “60 Minutes.”
“The questions that he’s [Kessler] asking are questions that FDA should’ve been asking a long, long time ago,” Kennedy said.
Kessler's petition compared the food industry to the tobacco sector, saying ultraprocessed ingredients are designed to be addictive. Poor nutrition, Kessler wrote, is an epidemic that "rivals tobacco in its damage to human health."
Kennedy has made the fight against ultraprocessed foods a focal point of his "Make America Healthy Again" movement, calling sugar and other ingredients "poison" that should be removed from the food supply. He also championed reforming the GRAS process, with the Health and Human Services Department proposing a rule in December that requires companies to submit notifications when looking to approve ingredients through the system.
However, much of Kennedy's ambitious agenda on food faces legal challenges, including potential action on GRAS. A federal court ruled in 2021 that material changes to the GRAS framework requires congressional action.
As a result, Kennedy and the FDA have largely focused on voluntary action and consumer education. The health secretary has been on a public policy blitz championing the new dietary guidelines, which call for consumers to eat "real food" and avoid processed offerings.
Kennedy echoed this sentiment again in his interview with "60 Minutes.” “I’m not saying that we’re going to regulate ultraprocessed food,” he said. “Our job is to make sure that everybody understands what they’re getting, to have an informed public.”
