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Processed food manufacturers say there's a conflict between the Health secretary’s plans and Trump’s desire to rebuild factory towns.
By Amanda Chu
03/08/2026 07:00 AM EDT
America’s food-makers have a message for President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers: You must choose between Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s agenda and ours.
Since Trump teamed up with Kennedy to win the 2024 election and made him Health secretary, the GOP’s traditional allies in the food industry have mostly stood down as Kennedy called their products poison and blamed them for chronic disease. They aren’t standing down anymore.
“Anytime that you’re increasing the regulatory burden or changing a system…you end up driving up the cost of the product,” said Jay Timmons, CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers. In a new video and report titled “Manufacturers Feed America” shared first with POLITICO, NAM warns the food industry is “under increasing strain” and federal and state rules targeting ingredients “risk undermining the system.”
NAM is demanding national uniform standards and a seat at the table on policies stemming from Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again agenda. Last year, Timmons warned the White House strategy on MAHA would “take America in the wrong direction.” Food and beverage companies make up the largest segment of NAM’s membership, which includes jam-maker Smucker’s, spice- and condiment-maker McCormick & Co., and the maker of processed meats Smithfield Foods, among other iconic American names.
The NAM campaign is the latest escalation from the food industry against Kennedy and his MAHA movement’s efforts to target their ingredients. It underscores how companies are exploiting Republican vulnerabilities on the economy in an effort to push their agenda ahead of the November midterm elections, which will shape Trump’s influence for the remainder of his term.
Midterm pressures have prompted the Trump administration in recent weeks to recalibrate its messaging on MAHA. On Feb. 18, Trump signed an executive order to boost glyphosate production, a weedkiller that a Kennedy-backed White House report last year linked to cancer. Kennedy has also embarked on a messaging blitz, touting the administration’s new dietary guidelines and drug pricing deals while talking less about his efforts to downsize the vaccine schedule. He has endorsed a Super Bowl ad paid for by the MAHA Center featuring boxer Mike Tyson and the slogan “Eat Real Food.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/08/processed-food-manufacturers-rfk-maha-affordability-00799828
Edited (03/09/26 03:22 PM)
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