Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning to meet with top executives of several major food brands on Monday, marking the first sitdown between the new Health and Human Services secretary and companies he’s publicly accused of harming Americans’ health.
Senior leaders from General Mills and PepsiCo are among those expected to participate in the discussion with Kennedy, said four people familiar with the matter, who were granted anonymity to discuss details that are not yet public, though they cautioned the attendee list could still change.
Kennedy agreed to meet with the food executives at the suggestion of the White House, which has encouraged Cabinet officials to meet with top representatives of industries they oversee, according to one of the people.
The meeting represents an early, high-stakes moment for an industry that has long been a top target of Kennedy and his Make America Healthy Again movement. He has blamed major food conglomerates for exacerbating chronic illnesses in children, and vowed to drastically overhaul the government’s approach to food dyes and other chemicals.
“Something is poisoning the American people, and we know that the primary culprits are changing food supply, a switch to highly chemical-intensive processed foods,” Kennedy said during a Senate confirmation hearing in January.
HHS did not respond to a request for comment.
Major packaged-food companies and other food industry players have expressed alarm about MAHA agenda items such as eliminating seed oils and banning certain food additives. Other issues that could come up in the meeting include ultra processed foods and the Food and Drug Administration’s plans for front-of-pack nutrition labels.
HHS and the Agriculture Department are also expected to write the next iteration of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans this year, a once-every-five-years undertaking that has traditionally given the food industry a chance to sway school lunch menus and doctors’ nutrition advice.
General Mills and PepsiCo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The meeting was first floated among industry players in February and was initiated by the Consumer Brands Association, which represents packaged food companies, alcoholic beverage companies and others, according to another one of the people familiar with the details. But as of Friday, the attendees had yet to agree on a meeting agenda, a dispute that is dividing CBA’s board and could potentially muck up the meeting.
“There is major concern that [CBA is] going to agree, as major industry players, to things that eliminate science from the FDA,” the person said. The person also speculated that it’s “entirely possible the CEOs fall over themselves to agree to whatever MAHA asks them to do.”