The jig is up for the food industry. RFK Jr. says a federal definition of ultra-processed food is coming by April, including a red/yellow/green label on every product in your store.
The pivot is notable. On the CBS show “60 Minutes” on February 15, Kennedy declined to commit to regulating ultraprocessed foods at all, saying, “I’m not saying we’re going to regulate ultraprocessed foods.” But just two weeks later, in an appearance on the “Joe Rogan Experience,” Kennedy announced that his agency would move forward… put a timeline on it.
TLDR
- RFK Jr. told Joe Rogan: America gets its first-ever definition of “ultra-processed food” by April.
- Every grocery product will carry a stoplight label (green, yellow, or red) rating how healthy it is.
- School lunches, SNAP benefits, and veterans’ food programs are all on the chopping block under new Dietary Guidelines.
From the Joe Rogan Episode
About 40 minutes into the podcast episode, Kennedy and Rogan began discussing the food pyramid. Rogan complimented Kennedy on “flipping” it to focus on “whole food, actual real food,” which led into a broader conversation about ultraprocessed foods. Kennedy criticized the old Food Pyramid, noting it was shaped by food industry lobbyists and had placed products like Froot Loops at the top – “which isn’t even a food,” he said.
Kennedy explained that the new Dietary Guidelines would shape what gets served across government-funded programs, from school lunch menus to veterans’ cafeterias to what SNAP recipients are encouraged to buy. The idea: shift away from processed foods and chemical additives and toward whole foods.
The talk then turned to technology, with Kennedy describing a wave of grocery shopping apps “coming online now” that will help consumers identify healthier options while in the store. He said these tools are already changing how food processors formulate their products.
A Definition, Then Labels
Kennedy was clear about the sequence: first, nail down the definition of ultraprocessed food (something the U.S. government has never officially done) and then use it as the backbone for a new front-of-package labeling system. “By April, we will have a federal definition of ultraprocessed foods for the first time in history,” he said.
The proposed label would use a traffic-light system to indicate how healthy a product is. “Every food in your grocery store will have a label on it,” Kennedy said, noting that it would “evaluate all the ingredients, etc.” He acknowledged the rollout won’t happen overnight but predicted it would move “pretty quickly.” His framing: “If you want to be healthy, we’re going to give you the information to take control of your own health.”
Why This Matters
The lack of an official definition for “ultraprocessed food” has long been a stumbling block for policy, research, and consumer communication. The NOVA classification system, developed by Brazilian researchers, is widely used in academic studies, but it has no regulatory standing in the United States. A federal definition would give agencies like FDA and USDA a shared framework to work from and could have downstream effects on everything from food labeling rules to dietary guidance to which products qualify for federal food assistance programs.
Kennedy did note that the agency isn’t planning to ban processed foods entirely. The goal, he suggested, is to change the quantity consumed: whether through production shifts, consumer education, or both. He left that part somewhat open-ended.
Source: Food Processing, Joe Rogan Experience