Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has taken on vaccines. He’s argued with his family. And he’s challenged non-jeans-wearing exercisers everywhere.
But the battle the nation’s top health official recently set out on is a different dimension and has the potential to escalate: He’s now declaring war on Dunkin’, the Massachusetts-based coffee chain beloved by blue-collar and white-collar workers throughout New England.
There are at least eight Dunkin’ outposts within the five miles around the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. One of his cousins, former congressman Joe Kennedy, has a coffee routine that runs on Dunkin’ (and includes as many as four shots of espresso).
“We’re going to ask Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks, ‘Show us the safety data that show that it’s okay for a teenage girl to drink an iced coffee with 115 grams of sugar in it,’” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said last week at a rally in Austin. “I don’t think they’re going to be able to do it.”
Dunkin’ and Starbucks did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
But plenty of others have been.
“Come and take it,” Maura Healey (D), the governor of Massachusetts, wrote on social media after the Boston Globe first drew wide attention to Kennedy’s comments.
“These colors don’t run pal,” other users wrote, posting a photo of Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Tom Brady dressed in track suits made with the chain’s signature bright orange and hot-pink colors.
“Wicked bad idea,” Rep. Richard E. Neal (D-Massachusetts) said.
Kennedy’s office did not respond to questions about whether he has a coffee routine and whether he’s heard from avid Dunkin’ drinkers in his family.
“Secretary Kennedy’s focus is on ensuring that the American food supply is transparent and grounded in rigorous science,” Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon said in a statement. He pointed to policy efforts underway to close loopholes allowing certain chemicals in the U.S. food supply.
“Americans deserve to know what is in their food and to have confidence that ingredients are evaluated through a clear, science-based process,” Nixon said.
Dunkin’ has a cult following, one where loyal drinkers swear by their iced coffees in the dead of winter and where the customization of orders is so extreme that the company in the past has touted that there are more than 15,000 ways to customize your coffee.
The White House Mess, which is operated by the U.S. Navy, served Dunkin’ Donuts, as it was then called, from 2006 through the end of 2011, the Globe reported in 2014. The outpost was frequently used by many of the Massachusetts natives working at the White House during President Barack Obama’s administration.
Kennedy has been seeking to tighten a decades-old loophole that allows food companies to put chemicals in their products without notifying the nation’s food regulators. That practice, referred to as “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS), can occur when companies self-certify the safety of a food additive, and thus aren’t required to tell the Food and Drug Administration when they include those chemicals or substances in their products. The White House budget office has been reviewing a proposed rule since December.
Kennedy’s health department is also weighing how to respond to a formal request to force the food industry to prove the safety of commonly used ingredients. David Kessler, who led the FDA roughly 30 years ago under both Democratic and Republican administrations, filed what’s called a citizen petition last August, which could also allow for the review of ingredients.
Kessler argued that there is no longer scientific evidence to conclude that processed refined carbohydrates are “generally recognized as safe,” and that they put people at risk of weight gain, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. Such carbohydrates are often found in store-bought products and can include high-fructose corn syrups, flours and starches that have been industrially processed.
On CBS News’s “60 Minutes” last month, Kennedy suggested that he wouldn’t use his regulatory powers to crack down on the products, as he has often sought voluntary cooperation with his initiatives from the food industry.
“I’m not saying that we’re going to regulate ultra-processed food,” Kennedy said. “Our job is to make sure that everybody understands what they’re getting, to have an informed public.”
The post RFK Jr.’s dunk on Dunkin’ riles up New Englanders: ‘Come and take it’ appeared first on Washington Post.
