| Big Food Is FURIOUS: RFK Jr. Just Declared War on Junk Food |  | Dear e-Alert Reader,
Ray Thatcher here.
If you caught our first OffScript, you know I don’t pull punches. We called out the silent epidemic of ultra-processed food (UPF) poisoning our kids and spotlighted RFK Jr.’s MAHA campaign for finally pushing back.
This week, it’s not just talk. MAHA just threw a haymaker.
RFK Jr. announced plans to overhaul the federal Dietary Guidelines—cutting them down from a bloated 149-page document to a blunt, four-page manifesto.
That’s not a typo. Four. Pages.
And the nutrition establishment is LOSING it.
While official responses remain muted, former insiders and policy critics are warning that this move could shake up decades of entrenched influence.
Why This Matters (And Why They’re Scared)
For decades, the USDA’s dietary guidelines have served as the backbone for school lunches, hospital meals, military rations, SNAP programs, and even public food labeling.
These guidelines are also one of Big Food’s favorite weapons—crafted with the help of industry-backed “experts” who slip in loopholes and confusing language that keeps their products on shelves and their profits intact.
This time? Not so much.
And that’s what makes this so dangerous to them. When guidelines are simple and public-facing, it’s harder to bury junk science and false nutrition claims under layers of bureaucratic fluff.
Here’s what the new MAHA-inspired guidelines say: - Eat whole food.
- Avoid ultra-processed foods.
- Cut seed oils.
- Ditch synthetic dyes.
- Prioritize organic, clean, recognizable ingredients.
Simple. Clear. And totally unrecognizable to the bureaucrats who’ve spent years spinning dietary guidance into a word salad of contradictions.
But the bigger shift is philosophical.
RFK Jr. is re-centering health policy around the individual—not corporations, not lobbyists, and definitely not the revolving door of “food science” insiders who made a career out of confusing the American public.
This marks a rare political moment: the head of an official agency willing to cut through the red tape surrounding government-backed nutrition. That’s not just bold—it’s a direct challenge to the status quo.
A Long Time Coming
Let’s not forget: The original USDA food pyramid from 1992 recommended 6-11 servings of grains—including refined carbs—while downplaying dietary fat. That low-fat, high carb advice has since been linked to America’s surge in obesity—adult obesity nearly tripled from about 13% in the early 1960s to over 42% by 2017-2018—while type 2 diabetes now affects more than 1 in 10 adults in the U.S.
It took 30 years and a pandemic to finally force a re-evaluation.
MAHA’s new rules come on the heels of a $20 million public health campaign targeting UPFs and their connection to metabolic disease, mood disorders, and early death.
With that groundwork laid, last week’s announcement is a logical (and radical) next step.
If adopted, these simplified guidelines could reshape the nutrition standards used in schools, hospitals, and public food programs—affecting everything from school lunch ingredients to SNAP-approved grocery items and federally funded nutrition education.
Why now? Because this isn’t just about health—it’s about trust. The American public has watched government food policy buckle under corporate lobbying for decades. This new approach signals a massive shift: less bureaucracy, more accountability, and a hard line against the companies that have profited off of disease.
Why This Matters
RFK Jr. is proving that MAHA isn’t just another campaign slogan. It’s a governing principle—and Big Food knows it. A four-page guideline is harder to manipulate, and even harder to ignore.
Expect the usual suspects to cry foul: nutrition professors, corporate PR reps, and “health influencers” with ties to processed food conglomerates.
But for millions of Americans fed up with dietary confusion and preventable illness, this is a reset decades in the making.
This is what MAHA looks like in action—building on public awareness campaigns, reshaping national guidance and refusing to bow to food industry pressure.
Because when one man takes a sledgehammer to a rigged system, it reminds us that change is still possible—even in Washington.
Your dose of truth—straight up, no chaser,
Ray Thatcher
Investigative Health Researcher, e‑Alert
Got a question or want to sound off? I’m all ears. Click here to share your thoughts.
Sources: - Florko, N. (2025, June 23). The Atlantic. The Atlantic; theatlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/06/rfk-maha-dietary-guidelines/683295
- Bleiweiss-Sande, R., Chui, K., Evans, E. W., Goldberg, J., Amin, S., Sacheck, J. M., & Economos, C. D. (2023). Nutritional quality of US school lunches following implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act: A systematic review. Nutrients, 15(10), 2244. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15102244
- Monteiro, C. A., Moubarac, J. C., Cannon, G., Ng, S. W., & Popkin, B. (2013). Ultra-processed products are becoming dominant in the global food system. Obesity Reviews, 14(S2), 21–28. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12107
- National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2022). Review of the process to update the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25192
- S. Department of Agriculture. (2024, June 25). Statement from Secretary of Agriculture on updated dietary guidelines initiative. https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases
- United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (2024, June 25). Kennedy applauds White House action to overhaul U.S. dietary guidelines. https://www.help.senate.gov/newsroom/press
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