Speaking on Tuesday before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins will have the next dietary guidelines for Americans out by August at the latest. He appeared before the committee to testify about the agency’s FY26 budget.
The guidelines are written by HHS and the USDA and shape federal nutrition and school lunch programs.
Kennedy emphasized that the guidelines will be short – “about four to five pages” – and will “move away from processed foods.” He said this will drive more consumption of “good food” in federal nutrition programs like school meals, hospitals and military meals. “We’re going to have four-page dietary guidelines that tell people essentially, eat whole food, eat the food that’s good for you,” Kennedy said.
The Biden administration began the process of drafting new guidelines, which must be finished by the end of the year under statutory requirements. Kennedy said the scientific report that advises drafting of the guidelines produced by the last administration was overly influenced by the food industry and called it “incomprehensible.”
Kennedy also told lawmakers that HHS would study food additives and suggested food packaging should contain labels indicating the presence of some additives.
