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Ultraprocessed foods pose a public health threat “as large, if not larger” than tobacco, former FDA Commissioner David Kessler told CBS News’ “60 Minutes” on Feb. 15.
“The scale of this — this affects everybody,” Kessler said. “Understand, not everybody smoked. But look at the number of people who consume ultraprocessed food. It touches all of us.”
Kessler, who led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the 1990s, helped expose how tobacco companies manipulated nicotine levels. Now, he is petitioning the FDA to revoke the “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) status of dozens of refined carbohydrates commonly used in processed foods.
His petition targets sweeteners, starches and flours such as high-fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin, dextrose and corn syrup solids. The ingredients are linked to cancer, heart disease, obesity, metabolic disease and other chronic health conditions.
‘No way for any American to know’ if ultraprocessed foods are safe
At the center of the fight is GRAS — a classification created by the U.S. Congress in 1958. The rule allows companies to determine for themselves whether certain ingredients are safe without formal FDA approval, so long as the additives are “generally recognized as safe” by experts.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kessler — despite sharp disagreements on some issues — have found common ground on closing what they say is a dangerous loophole.
Kennedy said companies have used GRAS to add “thousands upon thousands” of ingredients into the food supply without federal oversight. He told CBS:
“This agency does not know how many ingredients there are in American food. …
“The estimates are between 4,000 and 10,000. We have no idea what they are. …
“There is no way for any American to know if a product is safe if it is ultraprocessed.”
Ultraprocessed foods now make up roughly half of U.S. calories and about 60% of children’s diets. Kennedy pointed to soaring obesity rates as evidence of systemic failure.
“Seventy percent of Americans are either obese or overweight,” he said. That is not because people “suddenly developed giant appetites,” but because the food supply is “low in nutrition and high in calories and … it’s destroying our health.”
Engineered foods are wreaking ‘metabolic havoc’ on humans
Modern food manufacturing has engineered products that overwhelm human biology, according to Kessler.
“Over the last 40 years, the U.S. has been exposed to something that our biology was never intended to handle,” he told CBS. “Energy-dense, highly palatable, rapidly absorbable, ultraprocessed foods … have resulted in the greatest increase in chronic disease in our history.”
Kessler said companies took cheap starches and converted them into ingredients that “caused metabolic havoc.” These products “target the brain reward circuits that keep us coming back for more.” They trigger overeating and “deprive us of any sense of fullness.”
Kessler urged consumers to look at ingredient labels. “Corn syrup, corn solids, maltodextrin, dextrose, xylose, high-fructose corn syrup.” Those calories “are not just empty,” he said. “They’re ending up in your liver,” contributing to cardiometabolic disease.
His August 2025 citizen petition argues that the FDA has sufficient scientific evidence to revisit the GRAS status of these core ingredients. By law, the agency must respond within 180 days.
On Feb. 10, the FDA posted an interim response stating it had not reached a “complete final decision” but that the petition “has been under continuous review since its submission.” A “more fulsome response” is expected “soon.”
If the FDA agrees with Kessler, food manufacturers could be required to reformulate products or add warning labels to items ranging from cereals and breads to protein bars and plant-based meats.
“We changed how this country views tobacco,” Kessler said. “We need to change how this country views these ultraprocessed foods.”
FDA moves to replace ‘trust us’ era with ‘gold-standard science’
In March 2025, Kennedy directed the FDA to explore ways it can close the GRAS loophole.
I am directing the FDA commissioner to start the process of changing the rules to eliminate the self-affirmed GRAS pathway for new ingredients. I am also calling on the @US_FDA and @NIH continue to conduct and improve post-market assessments of GRAS chemicals currently in our… pic.twitter.com/BWvunk6lpw
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) March 13, 2025
On Feb. 10, the agency announced a comprehensive reassessment of butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), a preservative first listed as GRAS in 1958.
The additive helps prevent fats and oils from spoiling. It is used in a wide range of products, including frozen meals, breakfast cereals, cookies, candy, ice cream and processed meats.
Kennedy said in a press release that BHA has remained in the food even though the National Toxicology Program identified it as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen” based on animal studies.
“This reassessment marks the end of the ‘trust us’ era in food safety,” Kennedy said. If BHA fails to meet “gold-standard science,” it will be removed from the food supply.
On Feb. 3, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) introduced the GRAS Oversight and Transparency Act. The proposal would require federal review of certain older food ingredients that were self-determined to be safe, “often without ever notifying” the FDA.
U.S. taxpayers support ‘both sides in the war on Type 2 diabetes’
Food author Michael Pollan linked the rise of ultraprocessed foods to federal farm subsidies.
“We subsidize as taxpayers, through the Farm Bill, the least healthy calories in the diet,” he told “60 Minutes.”
Commodity corn and soy are not foods that consumers can eat, Pollan said. They are “raw ingredients” for processed products and animal feed.
“We are supporting both sides in the war on Type 2 diabetes,” he said. “We’re subsidizing the high-fructose corn syrup that’s contributing to causing it. And then we’re paying for the healthcare costs. I mean, it makes no sense at all.”
The American Farm Bureau Federation, the largest general farm organization in the U.S., said in a statement to CBS that a healthy diet includes a balance of nutrient-dense foods and that some nutrients “can come from shelf-stable foods.”
In December 2025, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu sued 11 major manufacturers of ultraprocessed foods. The lawsuit alleged that companies engineered and marketed addictive products while concealing health risks — echoing litigation once aimed at tobacco companies.
The Consumer Brands Association, representing food companies, said in a statement to “60 Minutes” that there is no agreed-upon scientific definition of ultraprocessed foods. It said manufacturers follow the FDA’s “rigorous evidence-based safety standards” to deliver safe, affordable products.
Kessler remains unconvinced. Food companies need “to understand the consequences of what they are doing and to do something about it,” he said.
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‘This country is ill’
Kennedy and Kessler openly acknowledge their differences, particularly on vaccines.
Kennedy said his stance on vaccines and ultraprocessed foods “is the same.” “People should have good science and they should have choice,” he told CBS.
“I’m not saying that we’re going to regulate ultraprocessed food,” Kennedy said. “Our job is to make sure that everybody understands what they’re getting, to have an informed public.”
Kessler said he disagrees with Kennedy on vaccines. Still, if Kennedy is “willing to take action on these ultraprocessed foods, I will be the first to applaud that.”
Kennedy pledged to review GRAS ingredients using “gold-standard science” and said he intends to act on Kessler’s petition. “The questions that he’s asking are questions that FDA should’ve been asking a long, long time ago,” Kennedy said.
For Kessler, the fight echoes his earlier battle against Big Tobacco. In the 1990s, the FDA’s attempt to regulate nicotine sparked congressional hearings exposing the tobacco industry’s deceptive practices. After years of litigation, Congress ultimately granted the agency authority over tobacco marketing.
“We still don’t regulate nicotine, but the world has changed,” Kessler told The New York Times in August 2025. “Congress came up with a framework, in part because we raised that question.”
Similarly, Kessler said he hopes his GRAS petition will spark a national reckoning over food policy.
“This country is ill,” he said. “I’m a doc. I care about the public health of this country. And if we can make progress on that, let’s do that.”
Watch CBS News’ ‘60 Minutes’ here:
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- Kennedy Takes Aim at FDA Loophole That Allows Unsafe Ingredients in Food
- Big Food Uses Tobacco-Style Playbook to Block New Food Safety Laws
