Inside RFK Jr’s conflicted attempt to rid America of junk food

Despite the ‘Maha’ report and other recent moves by Kennedy to call out ultra-processed food and its role in the chronic disease crisis, some food policy experts warn that the administration’s actions are undermining that goal Composite: Getty Images

Over the space of the last year, Robert F Kennedy Jr has made the term “ultra-processed foods” something of a household phrase.

Once a term only used by nutritionists and food policy researchers to describe the most processed foods in the supply chain (think: chips and sodas, packaged bread, microwave dinners and even some yogurts), ultra-processing has become a calling card of the “Make America Healthy Again” (“Maha”) movement.