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RFK Jr.’s Skeptics Say Overhauling School Lunch Is Impossible — It’s Not
Let’s face it. Making healthy food choices in America isn’t easy. Over 45% of U.S. deaths from heart disease, stroke, or diabetes are linked to diet. Our grocery stores are overflowing with processed foods, and the state of our children’s school lunches is deeply concerning.
Many Americans face significant barriers to accessing and affording healthy foods, and when combined with a lack of education about what constitutes a healthy diet, it creates the perfect storm for poor nutrition. It’s no wonder that almost half of all American adults have one or more chronic illnesses due to poor diet.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., recently confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services, has made addressing the overconsumption and overpromotion of unhealthy diets among Americans — especially children — a central focus of his agenda. When asked about the state of the typical American diet, Kennedy Jr. stated, “We are mass poisoning all of our children and all of our adults.”
Fast Food Chain Steak ‘N Shake Says They’ve ‘RFK’d’ Their Fries — and Are Opting for Healthier Cooking Method
There’s a kitchen shakeup at an American fast-food chain. Steak ‘n Shake has announced a major change to its beloved shoestring fries, and they say the inspiration partially came straight from the new Trump administration’s Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Starting in March, all Steak ‘n Shake locations will cook their fries in beef tallow instead of vegetable oil. The company broke the news on X with a post declaring; “By March 1 ALL locations. Fries will be RFK’d!” Steak ‘n Shake’s Chief Operations Officer, Daniel Edwards, joined “Fox & Friends” Thursday to talk about the change, saying the company had been considering the switch for some time.
“We’ve actually been thinking about this for a while. Our owner, my boss, is a man named Sardar Biglari,” Edwards said. “He called me one time and said you know, ‘Why should Europeans have better fries than Americans?’”
Snack Makers Are Removing Fake Colors From Processed Foods
PepsiCo designed a new spicy potato chip without using its signature — and artificially formulated — dyes. Remaking the original Doritos is proving much harder. If a potato chip isn’t bright red, will people know it’s spicy?
This type of question kicked off a yearlong effort by PepsiCo Inc.’s marketing innovation, research and development, and consumer insights teams to invent a new kind of seasoning. The result will hit grocery store shelves in North America on March 3: Simply Ruffles Hot & Spicy. The chips are not flaming red. They’re orangish and speckled with spices, but placed next to the famous Ruffles Flamin’ Hots, these chips are basically beige.
Still, they are mouth scorchers, with a heat that builds as you chew and lingers after you swallow — unlike Flamin’ Hots, which punch you in the mouth as soon as they hit your tongue. But appearances matter as much as flavor does. Flamin’ Hots get their cartoonishly red color from much-maligned (but still legal) artificial dyes, Red No. 40 and Yellow No. 6. The newer chips use tomato powder and red chile pepper.
Addictive Ultraprocessed Food Is the New Tobacco
The Organic and Non-GMO Report reported:
The controversy over ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) is intensifying as consumer awareness of the health risks of such foods grows, and large food companies face blowback over their UPFs on multiple fronts. Incoming Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has called UPFs “poison.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to require warning labels on UPF packaged foods.
A landmark lawsuit has been filed against 11 major food companies by a Pennsylvania teenager who claims he developed type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease because of eating the companies’ UPFs. The governor of California issued an executive order to crack down on UPFs. The Non-GMO Project is introducing a new certification program for non-ultraprocessed foods.
What are UPFs? Unfortunately, there is no commonly accepted definition. The Pennsylvania lawsuit states that ultra-processed foods are “industrially produced edible substances that are imitations of food. They consist of former foods that have been fractioned into substances, chemically modified, combined with additives, and then reassembled using industrial techniques such as molding, extrusion and pressurization.” The lawsuit claims UPFs are “alien to prior human experience.” Author Michael Pollan has famously referred to UPFs as “edible food-like substances.”
Where Your (Ultraprocessed) Food Comes From
Food and Environment Reporting Network reported:
If you want to see the birthplace of America’s ultraprocessed diet, take a drive through the upper Midwest in high summer. Before long, you’ll be hypnotized by the shimmering green blanket of corn and soybeans that fuels our industrial food system. Radiating from their geographical and spiritual epicenter in Iowa, these two crops cover nearly two-thirds of U.S. cropland — an area equal to 1.7 Californias.
These crops are the raw materials the food industry transforms into the dizzying array of products that fill hundreds of millions of bellies every day. They provide feed for the livestock whose meat and dairy make fast-food chains and deli counters hum, and their derivatives provide a huge proportion of the fat, sweeteners, and other additives that make processed treats so hard to resist.
All told, corn and soybean are the ultimate source for nearly half the calories the average American consumes each day.
