Lobbyists for the food and agriculture industries are working overtime to undermine Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s push for a healthier America.
RFK Jr., a former consumer rights attorney and outspoken critic of processed foods and additives, has been unapologetic in his calls for reform.
While he assures the public he doesn’t intend to “ban fast food,” Kennedy has made it clear that his “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) agenda aims to eliminate harmful ingredients such as Yellow 5 food dye and seed oils, both of which he links to obesity and inflammation.
Such proposals have sent shockwaves through the fast food and snack industries, with lobbyists now convening in secret meetings to plot their defense.
RealClearInvestigations, in collaboration with Lee Fang, has reported that lobbyists from snack food giants, sugary beverage companies, and agribusinesses have been meeting behind closed doors to strategize against Kennedy’s agenda.
Invariant, a D.C.-based government relations firm representing companies like McDonald’s and PepsiCo, issued a memo warning clients of Kennedy’s growing influence within the GOP.
The memo described MAHA as gaining “momentum among conservative figures” and urged clients to prepare for significant battles in Congress and the regulatory landscape.
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Those initial alarm bells have become a siren among snack food makers and agribusiness representatives, according to records obtained by RCI. Last Friday, lobbyists for major processed food producers huddled over Zoom to discuss the rise of MAHA and how best to handle Kennedy’s recently announced nomination.
Danielle Beck, a participant on the call who represents PepsiCo, makers of Doritos and Cap’n Crunch, and the Corn Refiners Association, a trade group for the largest producers of corn-based seed oils, noted that Congress could limit Kennedy’s abilities.
The “traditional agriculture and food stakeholders,” Beck noted, “might look to leverage, you know, the appropriations process” to curb what Kennedy is allowed to “initiate or implement.”
Congressional appropriators often use the annual funding process to limit federal authorities. In 2010, under sway from industry sources, the House Appropriations Committee inserted a provision into federal funding that forced tomato paste on frozen pizzas to be counted as a vegetable under dietary regulations.
The lobbyists noted that Kennedy’s lengthy set of demands could also be exploited to stymie his overall agenda. “If RFK Jr. is focused on twenty different things, chances of success are likely limited,” observed Ken Barbic, another Invariant lobbyist representing processed foods firms and farming interests.
Invariant, though founded by Heather Podesta, a prominent Democratic fundraiser, boasts bipartisan influence. Barbic, for instance, served during the first Trump administration in the Department of Agriculture and the firm employs a number of former GOP aides.
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