MAHA

No One Can Define 'Ultra-Processed Food.' Why Is RFK Jr. Trying To Regulate It?

How to raise food prices without giving consumers any useful information

Reem Ibrahim | 5.6.2026 2:35 PM

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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has promised to crack down on ultra-processed foods, a key policy priority of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda. The biggest obstacle standing in his way? Figuring out what an ultra-processed food is.

"By April, we will have a federal definition of ultra-processed foods," RFK Jr. promised on The Joe Rogan Experience in February. "Every food in your grocery store will have a label on it—it'll have maybe a green light, red light, or yellow light, telling you whether or not it's going to be good for you."

The agency is now weeks behind this deadline, and appears to be no closer to landing on a definition. As The New York Times recently reported, "behind the scenes…the process of defining ultraprocessed foods is still very much in the air. Agencies are struggling to agree, and it is unclear when a definition will be released."

"It's not final until it's final," Calley Means, a senior adviser to RFK Jr., told the Times. Means added that the definition would include the combined........

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