( Breitbart )
Food companies were told by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday he wants artificial dyes stripped from their products.
Kennedy has pledged to tackle chronic illnesses by overhauling the U.S. diet and food dye elimination is part of his plan for reform.
He has encouraged fast-food chains to switch to beef tallow instead of seed oils for French fries, and pushed for bans on additives like food colors, as Breitbart News reported.
At a closed-door Washington gathering, which included the CEOs of Kellogg’s, Smucker’s and General Mills, Kennedy said it is a top priority of the Trump administration to rid America’s food of the artificial dyes, wrote Melissa Hockstad, president and CEO of the Consumer Brands Association, a trade group, who penned a memo seen by ABC News.
Hockstad addressed the memo to “Consumer Brands Member CEOs.”
“The Secretary made clear his intention to take action unless the industry is willing to be proactive with solutions,” Hockstad wrote.
Kennedy has backing in his push.
The overwhelming majority of Americans supporting reforms to the food industry and public health, a survey last December revealed.
According to the YouGov poll almost eight in 10 American adults said they support requiring nutrition education in federally funded medical schools, while 74 percent support banning certain additives, including dyes, from the nation’s food supply.
Banning food additives has widespread support across the political spectrum, the poll found, with 74 percent of Democrats and 81 percent of Republicans supporting such a plan.
Likewise, 66 percent of Americans — including 71 percent of Democrats and 66 percent of Republicans — want the federal government to increase restrictions on the use of pesticides in agricultural products.
In August last year, while endorsing Trump for president, Kennedy laid out a vision for the government’s regulating bodies where none are controlled “by giant for-profit corporations” that have allowed the U.S. food supply, medicines, and environment to be compromised by toxic chemicals and additives, leading to a rising chronic illness epidemic.
“Two-thirds of American adults and children suffer from chronic health issues,” Kennedy said.
“Fifty years ago, that number was less than one percent. We’ve gone from one percent to 66 percent.”
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