Is RFK Jr. coming for your Dunkin'? - The Boston Globe

AUSTIN, Texas — As Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ticked through a list of ways the Trump administration is trying to clean up the nation’s food supply before an appreciative Texas crowd last week, he previewed more to come, including potentially pulling certain ingredients from the market if they can’t be proven safe.

And** **then he singled out a Massachusetts staple.

“We’re going to ask Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks, ‘Show us the safety data that show that it’s OK for a teenage girl to drink an iced coffee with 115 grams of sugar in it,’” Kennedy told the applauding audience. “I don’t think they’re gonna be able to do it.”

It’s unclear if the administration will follow through on such demands and restrict sugary beverages at Dunkin’ and similar chains, despite Kennedy’s declarative comments at the Austin food-focused event, organized by an outside political group that supports his agenda. The Health and Human Services Department did not respond to a request for further explanation. The warning comes as Kennedy is leaning heavily into his agenda to improve American diets, a popular initiative the administration has recently played up instead of his** **unpopular overhaul of the childhood vaccine schedule.

It also comes as the administration is working on a proposal to more seriously scrutinize food ingredients — one that, if it resembles Kennedy’s preview, could upend the nation’s food supply.

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Dunkin’ did not respond to a request for comment.

Kennedy’s push to reform the system of food ingredient approval called “Generally Recognized As Safe” began early in his tenure and is in line with what nutrition advocates on both sides of the aisle have wanted for years. The GRAS category was originally designed for common ingredients like vinegar and salt, so companies wouldn’t have to apply for approval to use them. But over time, it has come to include thousands of new ingredients, including those in ultraprocessed foods.

A proposed regulatory action to tighten the approval system is under review by the White House, according to a government database, though its specifics are not public.

The administration is also weighing how to respond to a citizen petition from David Kessler, a pediatrician and former Food and Drug Administration commissioner. In the petition, Kessler argues that the FDA should revoke recognition of refined carbohydrates and sweeteners as safe and require companies to petition anew for their approval as a food additive. Kessler argued the law already would allow FDA to find such products as not proven to be safe, and notes the burden is on companies to demonstrate the safety of their offerings.

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Such a policy could have massive effects on the food industry, which produces a large amount of products that contain refined carbohydrates, many of them ultra-processed. Some studies estimate nearly 75 percent of the nation’s food supply falls in that category.

In a conversation with reporters last month, one of Kennedy’s top advisers, Calley Means, pointed to the Kessler petition also in the context of sugary coffee.

“They’re required by law to have studies of what they’re putting in the food is safe,” Means said. “So, the Kessler petition brings out this question, OK, let’s see the studies.” Means demurred on if the agency was officially announcing such a plan, telling reporters to wait and see.

It’s unclear which specific Dunkin’ offerings Kennedy and Means are citing. According to the chain’s posted nutrition facts, some of its beverages do contain over 100 grams of sugar, including some Coolattas and frozen coffees. A medium coffee with cream and sugar has 27 grams. A single glazed donut has 13 grams of sugar.

Legal and nutrition experts said Kennedy is right to call out drinks with exorbitant amounts of sugar and that, in theory, the administration could legally try to restrict all sweeteners or set limits on how much could be added to foods. But it would take a level of regulatory focus and resources that the administration has not shown, they said, and could have massive implications for food that would likely draw significant pushback.** **

“It is legally feasible, I don’t see it happening,” said Jennifer Pomeranz, a public health professor at New York University. Pomeranz noted that similar efforts for years to push for limits to added salt in foods have gone nowhere.

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Marion Nestle, an author and nutrition expert, said if the administration wanted to only limit sugar and not ban it entirely, they’d have to provide science to justify a clear limit, which could prove difficult.

“I would agree that the idea of drinking a product that has 115 grams of sugar in it is a very bad idea. I would not recommend it,” Nestle said. “But, the reality of the food supply is that sugar is in everything. They want sugar out of everything? Fine, where’s the regulation? I want to see the regulation.”

Kennedy has delivered mixed messages on sugar and other foods. In Austin, as Kennedy and others extolled the virtues of “real food” and home cooking, guests were served cheeseburgers and fries from Steak ‘n Shake, a fast-food chain that Kennedy has praised for switching its frying oil to beef tallow.

He frequently refers to it as “poison,” but also has praised Coca-Cola for offering its soda with cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup. He says Americans should feel free to drink a Coke or eat a donut if that’s what they want, as long as they know the risks. He has also said ultra-processed foods are making Americans sick, but in an interview with “60 Minutes” about the Kessler petition, said he wasn’t suggesting restricting them.

“I’m not saying that we’re going to regulate ultra-processed food,” Kennedy said. “Our job is to make sure that everybody understands what they’re getting, to have an informed public.”

Kennedy and Means have been particularly critical, though, of children eating sugar and such foods, especially in school lunches. Recently updated federal dietary guidelines, which were developed jointly with the Agriculture Department, advise not giving children any added sugar under age 11.

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“There’s no way that we’re going to end this health care crisis that’s bankrupting our country, unless we fix the chronic disease epidemic,” Kennedy said as he closed his speech. “It’s a crime against our kids. And our generation now has a chance to fix it.”

Tal Kopan can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @talkopan.