USA

RFK Jr. puts Dunkin’ on notice; Massachusetts governor says ‘come and take it’

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Dunkin’ and other companies must prove their ingredients are safe, prompting Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) to respond on Wednesday: “Come and get it.”

Kennedy, for a while Rally at Brazos Hall “We’re going to ask Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks, ‘Show us the safety data that shows it’s OK for a young girl to drink iced coffee with 115 grams of sugar,'” he said last week in Austin, Texas.

As the audience applauded, he added: “I don’t think they can do it.

“The reforms aim to ensure that American foods meet the highest safety and nutrition standards around the world,” MAHA Action, Kennedy’s nonprofit health advocacy group, said in a statement. expression Explains Kennedy’s announcement.

Healey, Kennedy’s Mass. responded to his remarks about the Canton-based chain. a post X shared an image of a flag that looks like 1835 on his social platform.Come and Get It” The flag was first used at the beginning of the Texas Revolution.

But Healey’s flag replaces the ball with a silhouetted Dunkin’ cup.

The Hill has reached out to HHS and Dunkin’ for comment.

Kennedy has worked to overhaul the food ingredient certification system, something nutrition advocates have been calling for for years. In Austin, he said it would be “closing the GRAS loophole.” Generally Known as Safe policy.

Kennedy criticized the GRAS exemption in a “60 Minutes” interview last month. He argued that the exemption allows food companies to independently verify the safety of food additives without oversight from the Food and Drug Administration.

“This loophole has been taken over by industry and used to add thousands and thousands of new ingredients to our food supply,” Kennedy told reporter Bill Whitaker. “There are only 400 legal ingredients in Europe. This agency does not know how many ingredients are in American food.”

The National Association of Manufacturers retracted Kennedy’s claim, saying: a report It was released last Wednesday, showing how the US food and beverage supply chain produces “safe, abundant, accessible and nutritious” options for Americans.

They added that “policy trends threaten America’s safe and abundant food supply, its global leadership in safe and nutritious food production, and innovation in food technologies,” and that any changes could risk rising costs for both consumers and companies.

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