Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push to overhaul the U.S. food system has stalled amid resistance from food companies and Trump administration officials, who warn that new regulations could further increase grocery prices, according to people familiar with the matter.
White House and Trump administration officials have slowed progress on some of Kennedy’s hallmark initiatives — including efforts on ingredient oversight and ultraprocessed food — over concerns they could drive up food prices, the people said. Food-industry groups representing companies such as PepsiCo and WK Kellogg have delivered a similar message to lawmakers, federal agencies and the White House, especially about policies being developed at the state level.
The messages have gained traction with White House staffers who are hyperfocused on affordability as the Iran war accelerates inflation and threatens to influence voters in midterm elections. Grocery prices in April were roughly 26% higher than they were five years ago, according to the Labor Department.
The Trump administration has made some moves on food, including voluntary commitments from companies to remove artificial dyes and completing a system for reviewing the safety of chemicals in food products, senior administration officials said. They described such efforts as difficult and requiring many cross-agency conversations.
“Affordability is very important,” said Calley Means, a top Kennedy aide who is posted in the White House. “It comes into a lot of conversations on every topic.” Means said the White House is committed to addressing ultraprocessed food.
HHS did not respond to a request for comment.
“In order for the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ movement to be successful, it needs to take into account all of our needs to eat healthier while factoring in affordability,” Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Vaden said at The Wall Street Journal’s Global Food Forum this week.
Kennedy rose to prominence vowing to strip chemicals from the food supply and wage war on chronic disease. He has also urged states to pass laws tightening food regulation.
Kennedy told podcast host Joe Rogan in February that the government would unveil a definition of ultraprocessed food in April, followed soon after by a rule requiring front-of-package labels indicating whether products are healthy. Neither has materialized. Senior administration officials said both are close to completion and would be released soon.
A petition requesting the FDA crack down on refined carbohydrates, filed last August by former FDA Commissioner David Kessler and supported by Kennedy, has not been answered despite months of White House discussion, people familiar with the matter said. Senior administration officials said the response could be released at any point but is being strategically timed.
Another initiative — overhauling the FDA’s oversight of new food ingredients — has been unpopular with some White House officials who see it as adding rules rather than eliminating them, according to people familiar.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has been a key voice on affordability issues and has worked against Kennedy on several policy matters, people familiar said. Earlier this year, Rollins said a plan to update the nation’s school-meals program would be released by midspring. Staffers for Rollins have been battling Kennedy allies over how strict the rule should be, the people said. Vaden said this week that the school-meals rule would be issued later this year and must avoid significantly increasing costs for school districts.
Rollins and Kennedy have made frequent joint public appearances, most recently visiting a Virginia farm together on Wednesday. A USDA spokesman said Rollins would keep working with Kennedy to deliver “MAHA wins.”
“The Trump administration has repeatedly proven its ability to multitask,” the spokesman said. “Secretary Rollins can Make America Healthy Again while making certain that affordability, the American farmer, and rural communities, thrive.”
The biggest concern for many food companies is a wave of MAHA-backed bills moving through statehouses that take varying approaches to regulating food additives and ultraprocessed foods. Food and beverage companies last year formed a coalition called Americans for Ingredient Transparency to fight what they describe as a “patchwork” of regulations. The group released a study in February showing that legislation passed in Louisiana, Texas and West Virginia — banning certain ingredients or requiring new warning labels — would result in a 12% increase in annual grocery spending in those states.
AFIT is pushing for a single national standard on ingredient safety and transparency to be set by the FDA.
“For affordability, the patchwork is just the sort of big 800-pound gorilla,” said Rhonda Bentz, executive vice president of public affairs for the Consumer Brands Association, which represents major food companies and is a member of AFIT. “We’re not in the luxury-goods business.”
MAHA advocates have pushed back, arguing that the cost of inaction is higher. “The status quo is extraordinarily expensive,” said Vani Hari, a MAHA influencer known as the Food Babe. “Families are just paying for it later through medical bills instead of at the checkout counter.”