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By Jasmine Laws
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Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr has responded to public backlash about his announcement that Dunkin' Donuts will be asked to hand over "safety data," in a call to review the health impact of its beverages.
Last week, the health secretary said at a rally in Austin: "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.'" He added: "I don’t think they’re going to be able to do it."
The comment prompted backlash online, with Americans sharing jokes and memes about the prospect of losing the chain, and even Democratic Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey joined in.
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Healey shared a post on X of an image of a flag appearing to be the 1835 "Come and Take It" flag first used at the start of the Texas Revolution, although in place of the usual cannon, she put a Dunkin’ cup.
Responding to the backlash on Thursday, Kennedy commented on Healey's post from Wednesday, writing on X: "No one is taking away your Dunkin'. But isn't it reasonable to ask whether a drink loaded with 180 grams of sugar is safe?"
Why It Matters
Dunkin' Donuts makes up a significant proportion of America's coffee shops. Based on data up to 2024 gathered by coffeedasher.com, while Starbucks had the highest share of coffee shops in the country (40 percent), Dunkin’ was second (26 percent). The chain is highly popular among Americans, and across the world, selling 60 cups of coffee globally a second.
However, many of Dunkin' Donuts signature drinks have levels of sugar that far exceed the recommended daily allowance. Some of its frozen coffee options exceed 100 grams of sugar per drink.
The American Heart Association recommends keeping daily intake of added sugar to a maximum of 36 grams for men and 25 for women. The association noted that many Americans consume more than two to three times this daily allowance.
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What To Know
A HHS spokesperson also previously told Newsweek: "Secretary Kennedy is on a crusade to push Americans to reduce added sugar under the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which call for avoiding sugar-sweetened beverages and limiting added sugars to no more than 10 grams per meal."
The new dietary guidelines issued by HHS reflects one of the pillars of the 'Make America Healthy Again' (MAHA) campaign: making Americans eat "real food."
The guidelines advise Americans to reduce their intake of highly processed foods, to prioritize protein with meals, ensure they are eating the right number of calories and to consume whole-milk dairy products, among other things.
They also say that Americans should avoid highly processed foods, and to be diligent when checking packaging. This means checking to see if products contain artificial flavors, petroleum-based dyes, artificial preservatives, and low-calorie non-nutritive sweeteners, and to see how many added sugars it contains.
As the HHS spokesperson told Newsweek, and as is included in the guidelines, Americans are being advised not to consume more than 10 grams of added sugars in one meal. Most Dunkin' drinks far exceed that limit.
Kennedy's call to have the safety of Dunkin' Donuts beverages reviewed also follows a push to have a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) policy tightened: the 'generally recognized as safe' or GRAS policy.
According to FDA rules, any food additives are subject to premarket review, unless labelled as GRAS. This means that GRAS-labelled ingredients do not require FDA approval, allowing food companies to bypass federal regulatory review.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has previously said that this "loophole" has led to "hundreds of chemicals being added to food products without FDA oversight, and without the public knowing of the potential health risks," and former FDA commissioner Dr. David Kessler has started a petition to get the "loophole" closed and to have the GRAS status of "processed refined carbohydrates" revoked.
Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food is Medicine Institute and professor of nutrition and medicine at Tufts University, previously told Newsweek that the "FDA is not enforcing its own rules," as companies are currently able to have much higher levels of sugar, caffeine or salt in products than is considered safe as a result of this "loophole."
"This is not banning the use of these ingredients at high levels," he said. "It’s simply reasserting common sense that, before doing so, industry needs to show through careful studies that this is actually safe for health, for the entire population."
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