What RFK Jr.’s Conflict on Corn Syrup May Imply for Your Grocery Basket

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., incoming President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of Well being and Human Companies, has lengthy attacked using high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in 1000’s of on a regular basis grocery gadgets. That is one cause the controversial nominee—he has additionally made disproven claims linking sure vaccines to autism—faces fierce opposition from corn farmers, meals producers, and a few members of Congress as his nomination strikes to the U.S. Senate.

Ought to Kennedy be confirmed, he would head 13 main federal companies, together with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, the Nationwide Institutes of Well being, and the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA), giving him substantial energy to alter what goes into American grocery carts. He is in search of wholesale adjustments, arguing that “whole departments just like the vitamin departments” within the companies he would lead “should go.”

As such, buyers might see massive shifts of their favourite merchandise—from breakfast cereals to sodas to condiments—if firms search for alternate options to HFCS or preserve utilizing it and lift their costs.

RFK Jr.’s Proposed Adjustments to Meals and Agriculture

Lengthy a staple in extremely processed meals, from sodas to snacks, HFCS has been below fireplace primarily based on its hyperlinks to weight problems and continual illnesses. To fight its use, Kennedy has proposed adjustments to 2 predominant areas of America’s meals system: authorities subsidies that decrease the value of HFCS and vitamin packages.

Kennedy would have little energy to alter these subsidies, that are the results of legal guidelines handed by the U.S. Congress. Nonetheless, he would have energy by way of the Supplemental Diet Help Program to limit recipients of meals stamps from utilizing them to pay for sugary drinks and closely processed meals. Kennedy has additionally vowed to remove processed meals from federally backed college lunches.

Given his urge for food for disrupting the established order, and well being considerations round HFCS, Kennedy may also direct the FDA to overview HFCS’s standing as an ingredient that’s “typically acknowledged as secure” (GRAS), an official designation. If the FDA decided that HFCS was now not GRAS, it might ban it, however there is not any indication that Kennedy plans to take this route.

Dimension of the Excessive-Fructose Corn Syrup Market

The worldwide marketplace for HFCS is estimated at $9.5 billion in 2025, with North America accounting for about 40% of that market and China making up one other 20%. Within the U.S., it is used primarily as a sweetener in drinks and baked items.

Meals producers have traditionally most well-liked HFCS over cane sugar as a result of it is 10% to 30% cheaper as a consequence of federal corn subsidies; it is produced domestically, making it simpler to entry; it is a liquid, so it is simpler to move and mix into meals; and it acts as a preservative by retaining moisture.

Main producers that use HFCS embrace these firms:

• Nestlé: A number one international meals and beverage firm identified for its numerous vary of merchandise, together with snacks and frozen meals
• PepsiCo: A serious participant in each the snack and beverage markets
• Mondelez Worldwide (MDLZ): Identified for its confectionery and snack manufacturers
• Normal Mills (GIS): Produces all kinds of packaged meals, together with cereals and snacks
• Kraft Heinz (KHC): A big producer of condiments and packaged meals

U.S. HFCS Consumption Has Already Dropped Considerably

Per capita consumption of HFCS within the U.S. has fallen steadily to about 60% of its peak in 1999—when Individuals set a report by ingesting greater than 150 kilos per capita of all sweeteners.

Since then, many producers have switched to different sweeteners like refined cane and beet sugars as medical authorities and information media stories on the well being results of HFCS, and corn costs have elevated.

It is difficult to know precisely how a lot costs may rise if HFCS is now not used. Working off info contained in earlier analysis, a transfer from HCFS to different sweeteners would offer a few 10% to fifteen% improve in the price of sure merchandise, particularly drinks. However quite a bit has modified lately as corn and cane costs have shifted. The underside line is that any value will increase will rely upon the costs of any substitute substances.

One wildcard on this regard is incoming President Trump’s promise of upper tariffs on cane and beet sugars from Mexico and Brazil, which might improve the costs of these sweeteners and thus the meals produced with them. This may preserve HCFS economically viable as an ingredient even when it turns into reasonably costlier.

RFK Jr. To Face Pushback from Farmers, Meals Producers

Regardless of rising concern in regards to the results of HFCS, Kennedy is already getting stiff resistance to his warfare on HFCS from meals firms, corn farmers, and the members of Congress who characterize them. Senator Charles E. Grassley, senior senator and a Republican from Iowa, a significant corn-growing state, has already indicated he would push again on any adjustments that might minimize corn manufacturing.

Main meals producers akin to Archer-Daniels-Midland Firm (ADM), PepsiCo, and Kraft Heinz have additionally promised to foyer towards Kennedy’s initiatives, significantly any adjustments to corn subsidies.

But Kennedy may also discover help throughout the ideological spectrum for his HFCS-related initiatives, given the media protection depicting the hyperlinks between the sweetener and weight problems and continual illnesses. In 2024, Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, of Florida, submitted laws that might ban HFCS and sure meals components within the U.S. Greater than a decade in the past, then-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg unsuccessfully tried to ban massive sugary delicate drinks within the metropolis.

Well being Implications of Excessive-Fructose Corn Syrup

Nearly 40% of U.S. adults are categorised as overweight, a determine that has doubled for the reason that Eighties, with those that are severely overweight rising by 1 / 4 since 2014. Research counsel that HFCS contributes extra to weight achieve than the identical stage of consumption of normal sugar, primarily due to how the physique processes it. The sweetener can bypass regular urge for food controls, resulting in elevated cravings and the overconsumption of sugary meals.

Consuming a variety of HFCS has been linked to decreased insulin sensitivity, resulting in elevated blood sugar ranges and probably contributing to Kind 2 diabetes and metabolic problems. As well as, kids seem significantly susceptible to those well being results. Research present that lowering their consumption of HFCS improves liver well being, particularly in circumstances of nonalcoholic fatty liver illness, and considerably decreases triglyceride ranges.

Backside Line

If confirmed as secretary of Well being and Human Companies, Kennedy’s proposals on HFCS might additional reshape what Individuals eat. His plans to limit meals stamp purchases of sugary drinks and remove processed meals from college lunches would instantly have an effect on tens of millions of Individuals.

Nonetheless, his broader imaginative and prescient of reforming corn subsidies would require congressional help, highlighting the complexities of the economics of meals, public well being, and the facility of U.S. agricultural pursuits.