RFK Jr. Asked: 'What Is The Plan If The Food Industry Does Not Voluntarily Agree' To Cut Food Dyes?

At a press briefing, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was asked what will be done if the food industry does not voluntarily agree to cut dyes.

Transcript

00:00Hi, Sarah Overmall from CNN.

00:03Secretary Kennedy, you talked about how sugar is poison and how it's addictive.

00:08Is that the next step for you, looking at policies to reduce or even eliminate sugar in food products?

00:14I don't think that we're going to be able to eliminate sugar.

00:18But I think what we need to do probably is give Americans knowledge about how much sugar is in their products.

00:24And also, with the new nutrition guidelines, we'll give them a very clear idea about how much sugar they should be using, which is zero.

00:37Yes.

00:39Hi, Helena Bademiller-Evitz with Food Fix.

00:42You mentioned the goal is to work with the food industry to get most of the major synthetic food dyes out.

00:49What is the plan if the food industry does not voluntarily agree to do that?

00:54And what are the next steps if you can't get agreement within the industry?

00:58Well, here the industry has voluntarily agreed.

01:02And so, you know, I think as we move forward, we are going to work with the industry.

01:11They've shown a lot of leadership on this right now.

01:14And, in fact, we're getting food companies now and fast food companies who are calling us almost every day and asking us, how do we do this?

01:23What do you want us to do?

01:26Will you do a press conference with us?

01:28And so we're really happy with the reception.

01:33I think they're ready to change the industry.

01:36They have children, too.

01:37There's no such thing as Republican children or Democratic children.

01:42Their children are going to the same schools.

01:44They're eating the same foods as the rest of us.

01:47And I think most of them really want to have a healthier America.

01:52They want clear guidelines.

01:54And they want to know what they can and can't do.

01:56And we're going to give them that.