A top Trump administration official appears to be trying to help the president rebrand his favorite food at the expense of American farmers, according to one expert.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who Trump appointed to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has been crisscrossing the country promoting french fries cooked in beef tallow as a way to promote national wellness, Salon Senior Food Editor Ashlie Stevens wrote in a recent column. At the same time, the administration has cut billions in funding for school produce programs and tribal food systems.
"Kennedy has made a platform of calling ultra-processed foods a public health emergency — a diagnosis many public health experts share," Stevens wrote. "But in practice, his campaign for 'real food' looks less like a reinvestment in farming and more like a rebrand of fast food."
"The result is a public health strategy that skips the farm and heads straight for the fryer," the column continued.
Kennedy's approach also appears to contradict the conclusions drawn in a 78-page report that Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again Commission published earlier this year about the causes of childhood chronic disease. The report diagnoses factors such as "ultra-processed foods, chemical exposure, and excessive medication" and prescribes solutions like healthy foods produced by American farmers.
His rebranding efforts are also happening at a time when American farmers are seeing federal support dry up. For instance, the Department of Agriculture has shuttered regional offices that provide technical support to farmers and closed multiple funding programs.
"If this is what counts as innovation in the MAHA movement, it’s hard not to wonder what the 'food as medicine' approach actually treats — the body or the brand?" Stevens wrote.