The CEO of the parent company that owns Twinkies and Uncrustables has declared that snacking will continue despite Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.
On an earnings call with analysts Tuesday, J.M. Smucker CEO Mark Smucker responded to a question about whether Kennedy’s agenda could hurt the company, CNN reports. Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist who has decried “harmful chemicals” and food additives, is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
“As it relates to anything in the political domain, we believe very strongly that snacking continues,” Smucker said. “Consumers are going to continue to look for a way to reward themselves at different times throughout the day.”
Not everyone is as optimistic as Smucker.
“The food industry ought to be quaking in its boots, but they don’t think it’s going to happen,” Marion Nestle, a nutrition and food policy expert at New York University, told CNN.
Kennedy takes a “more hostile view of food companies” than previous secretaries of health and human services, Alexia Howard, an analyst at Bernstein, said in a report, according to CNN.
“Potential policy changes could impact the (food) sector,” Howard added.
Kennedy, a former independent presidential candidate who later endorsed Trump, has long advocated for banning food dye and pesticides. The 70-year-old has also claimed there are “chemical poisons” in “every supermarket aisle.”
“The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country,” Trump wrote in a statement announcing Kennedy’s nomination.
Meanwhile, Kennedy has made a series of baseless claims about COVID-19 and vaccines.
Kennedy’s organization, Children’s Health Defense, has advocated against vaccinations and spread the baseless claim that vaccines cause autism. RFK Jr has also baselessly opposed the COVID-19 vaccine and has spread misinformation about its safety and efficacy. Spreading this misinformation resulted in Meta deactivating his Instagram account in 2021.
