Robert F. Kennedy Jr. found a prime-time platform on CBS News’ 60 Minutes, where his MAHA doctrine took center stage.
CBS’ flagship news program spotlighted the health secretary’s high-profile campaign against ultraprocessed foods on Sunday, while gently pressing him on his vaccine skepticism.
60 Minutes opened the segment with B-roll of Kennedy—who has dismissed dozens of agency experts who don’t share his views—appearing to consult a team of advisers at a table.
Kennedy, 72, blamed ultraprocessed foods for America’s soaring obesity rates, taking particular aim at the FDA’s GRAS label, shorthand for “generally recognized as safe,” a designation that allows companies to use certain ingredients without seeking formal agency approval.
“That loophole was hijacked by the industry, and it was used to add thousands upon thousands of new ingredients into our food supply,” said Kennedy, whose “Make America Healthy Again” crusade frequently takes aim at the food industry. “There is no way for any American to know if a product is safe if it is ultraprocessed.”
But when 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker asked whether he was ready to regulate the industry, Kennedy blinked.
Whitaker noted that President Donald Trump “has shown himself to be pretty much against regulations.”
“So why would he support regulating ultraprocessed foods?” he asked.
“Well, I’m not saying that we’re going to regulate ultraprocessed foods,” Kennedy replied. “Our job is to make sure that everybody understands what they’re getting—to have an informed public.”
Whitaker also noted that Kennedy’s “credibility” has been “widely called into question because of his history of vaccine skepticism and his agency’s revision of the childhood vaccine schedule.” He asked Kennedy if he was concerned that people would be reluctant to support his campaign against ultraprocessed foods.
“My stance on vaccines is the same. People should have good science and they should have choice,” he said, adding, “People who wanna get those vaccines can get them and they can get them fully insured.”
60 Minutes noted that Kennedy’s interview took place shortly after the Trump administration released new U.S. nutritional guidelines last month, encouraging people to embrace more proteins, vegetables, and healthy fats, and to cut down on sugar and highly processed foods.
The guidelines also promoted one of Kennedy’s favorite staples, beef tallow, and urged people to eat more red meat, which is at odds with decades’ worth of past recommendations and scientific evidence.
CBS News has been accused of making a MAGA-friendly pivot since new owner David Ellison—son of Republican megadonor Larry Ellison—installed anti-woke columnist Bari Weiss as editor in chief.
Weiss, 41, sparked a mutiny among CBS staffers in December after she abruptly shelved a 60 Minutes segment that delved into the Trump administration’s deportation of Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador’s CECOT megaprison. She justified pulling the segment by citing the need for more reporting and interviews with members of the Trump administration.
