This morning, the Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Putting a notorious conspiracy theorist and political opportunist in charge of some of the country’s biggest public health programs is a dangerous move, and Food & Water Watch stands against all misinformation and anti-science policy and rhetoric.

And let’s be clear: there’s no doubt that food corporations have price-gouged their way to filling our fridges with unhealthy, unsafe foods. Many parts of our food system, from chemical-laden crops to disease-ridden factory farms, endanger the health of our communities. We need sweeping changes to make our food healthier and safer and to stop corporations from controlling our most precious resources.  

Since our founding, Food & Water Watch has called for scientifically sound policies and regulatory changes that would accomplish this. But is RFK, Jr. up to the task? Kennedy talks a big game about Big Food, yet espouses a wide range of dangerous, anti-science beliefs. Even he has been very clear that he answers to Trump, whose loyalty is to corporations and billionaires, not constituents.

As head of HHS, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will lead agencies tasked with keeping us safe and healthy, including the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Here are a few things that should be at the top of any HHS Administrator’s list if they are serious about reforming the food system: 

1. Stop the Spread of Bird Flu and Other Zoonotic Diseases

Factory farms create unsanitary and unsafe conditions. They are an ideal breeding ground for disease. Now, we are facing one of the most disruptive animal pandemics in recent memory, as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1), better known as “bird flu,” sweeps through U.S. poultry operations.

The virus is leading to mass cullings of millions of birds, contributing to higher egg prices. It’s also spreading to dairy herds and, most alarmingly, to people. Without action, bird flu will make food increasingly unaffordable and wreak havoc on our food system. It especially threatens farmworkers and rural communities as it jumps from animals to humans, and it could create the next major pandemic.

The CDC and the FDA should be working to control the spread of bird flu and protect workers. They should, at minimum, increase testing and vaccines for farmworkers. The CDC should also require appropriate protective equipment on farms with active infections, and it should require stricter testing before dairy cattle are moved off factory farms. 

2. End the FDA Loophole for Mystery Food Additives

The FDA’s “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) loophole allows food corporations to regulate themselves and introduce new additives to our food without true FDA oversight. As a result, corporations are polluting our food system with impunity.

Worse, the number and types of chemicals getting into our food through GRAS is completely unknown. The FDA must adopt a rule closing this loophole. Congress could mandate it by passing Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s Toxic Free Food Act.

3. Ban Harmful Food Additives

In 2022, the FDA granted a legal petition we joined with the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and the agency moved to ban cancer-causing Red Dye No. 3 from food. But there is a long list of other harmful chemicals it must address next.

At the top of the list are potassium bromate (a leavening agent for baked goods), brominated vegetable oil, and propylparaben (a preservative). These are toxic chemicals associated with cancer, heart and liver problems, reproductive issues, and more. California has already banned Red 3 and these three chemicals from food. The FDA must follow suit.

4. Stop Factory Farms’ Dangerous Antibiotics Abuse 

Rampant overuse of antibiotics is industry practice. Factory farms flood animals with antibiotics not to treat sick animals, but for disease prevention in crowded, filthy conditions and to grow animals bigger, faster.

The result is deadly. Abusing antibiotics leads to more antibiotic-resistant bacteria and illnesses, and to deaths that should have been preventable. The FDA should ban using antibiotics on the farm for any purpose other than treating sick or injured animals or controlling diagnosed outbreaks of disease.

5. Ban Harmful Drugs Used in Industrial Animal Agriculture

Factory farms use a litany of drugs meant to grow animals faster and cheaper, to generate more profit. Those include drugs added to animal feed like ractopamine and Experior.

The FDA’s own files contain reports that ractopamine and similar drugs harm farm workers, causing respiratory problems and heart issues when inhaled or ingested. They can even cause these issues for people who consume meat from animals whose feed contained the drug. They’re harmful to the animals, too. 

In 2023, we joined the Animal Legal Defense Fund in suing the FDA for its approval of Experior. The FDA must ban all these drugs to keep workers and consumers safe.

6. End Genetically Engineered Animals

As of last year, the FDA has full authority to regulate genetically engineered animals — animals whose genetic makeup humans have manipulated to create more profit-friendly traits. Genetic engineering introduces all sorts of risks. For example, genetically engineered animals can escape into the environment and breed, harming wild populations and threatening ecosystems.

Moreover, their potential health effects are under-studied. Corporations are pushing full steam ahead with these dubious creations, but that must end. The FDA must stop the approvals of genetically engineered animals.

7. Regulating Labeling to Stop Corporations’ Misleading Claims

Along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the FDA sets standards for labels on our food. It decides what kinds of claims and labels food companies can put on their packages and what they mean.

You may commonly see “natural” and similar labels on foods — but these are empty promises that aren’t federally regulated. With USDA, the FDA must regulate labeling standards for foods. Moreover, corporations should not be able to market ultra-processed foods as “healthy” or “natural.”

8. Ending Junk Food Marketing to Children

Across the country, corporations flood children with advertisements for unhealthy foods. These ads are shaping their preferences for junk food, which is often made with the harmful additives we mentioned earlier. Voluntary marketing programs are failing. The FDA must step in and work with the Federal Trade Commission, which works to prevent deceptive marketing to end this harmful advertising.

9. Increase Seafood Import Food Inspections 

At least 70% of the seafood we consume in the U.S. is imported from other countries with different food safety standards. The current inspection system on these foods is by no means perfect or transparent, but it is at dire risk if the FDA is deregulated, potentially exposing consumers to contaminated seafood.

For example, researchers have found shrimp in our grocery stores contaminated with antibiotics that are banned or restricted in the U.S. The FDA should maintain or increase food safety inspections for seafood.

10. Protect Communities from Factory Farms’ Hazardous Air Pollution

Factory farms release a cocktail of dangerous air pollution, including particulate matter, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide. Factory farm workers and rural communities are suffering the consequences.

HHS agencies like the CDC and its National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) can and should study this pollution. Then, they should recommend enforceable exposure limits for hazardous air emissions from factory farms. This would help force factory farms to clean up their act and protect communities from dangerous health impacts.

11. Protect Farm Workers from Dangerous Working Conditions

Farmers and farmworkers feed our country, yet they are largely left unprotected by federal labor laws. Notably, an obscure budget rider for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has stopped the agency from regulating or investigating injuries and deaths at farms with fewer than 10 workers for decades. NIOSH can help change that, especially for farms with methane digesters. 

These digesters process manure into dirty so-called “biogas.” They’re dangerous pieces of equipment. What’s more, working in factory farm gas production can expose workers to numerous hazards, including unhealthy levels of hydrogen sulfide. NIOSH should pick up where OSHA’s hands are tied and investigate worker safety concerns for digester workers and recommend new standards.

To Defend Our Food and Our Health, Tackle Corporate Abuses

Right now, our food system, from field to table, is designed to enrich corporations. These corporations have turned to all manner of dirty tactics to boost their profits — from shortcutting regulations and using dangerous chemicals to exploiting workers and polluting communities. 

If Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. really wants to improve public health and make our food supply safer, he needs to set aside conspiracy theories and instruct HHS to address these issues at their root. We need leaders who will hold corporations accountable, stop their abuses, and protect our food and health — not more corporate cronies and conspiracy theorists. Time will tell if he’s all talk.