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By Jasmine Laws
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Jokes and memes are circulating on the social media platform X after Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said major food companies like Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks will have to prove the safety of their ingredients.
At a rally at Brazos Hall in Austin last week, Kennedy said: "We’re going to ask Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks, ‘Show us the safety data that show that it’s OK 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."
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The announcement has since prompted a wave of comical backlash on X, including by Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey.
She 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.
Kennedy later responded to Healey's post 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?"
Newsweek has contacted Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks via email outside regular working hours for comment.
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Why It Matters
The harm caused by ultra-processed foods is something Kennedy has been vocal about as part of his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) campaign.
For example, he recently released new dietary guidelines as part of his bid to get Americans to "eat real food," which warned of the consequences of poor diet. It said the results of poor dietary choices have been "devastating," as over 70 percent of American adults are now overweight or obese, while nearly one in three American adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 have prediabetes.
A 2024 BMJ review reported that diets high in ultra-processed food were associated with an increased risk of 32 harmful health outcomes.
What To Know
Responding to Governor Healey's post commenting on Kennedy's announcement about Dunkin' Donuts, one social media user shared an image of the famous 1789 illustration, the "Boston Tea Party" created by British engraver W.D. Cooper.
The illustration shows Americans dressed as Native Americans throwing tea from a ship into Boston Harbor in 1773. They also wrote: "Maybe this regime needs to remember we take drinks VERY SERIOUSLY in New England."
Another user shared an illustration of a large man with his arm raised behind him, as though poised to punch someone, while holding a cup with a straw in his other hand, and the comment: "leave my type two diabetes alone…"
A different X user shared a graphic of a snake wrapped around a Dunkin' Donut iced coffee drink, with the caption: "Donut Tread On Me."
One also wrote: "Taking Dunkin Donuts from Massachusetts... I would almost say yes to that simply because it would turn Massachusetts into a pro 2nd Amendment state immediately. Protecting Dunkin Donuts from Feds is what MILITAS are for."
The National Association of Manufacturers recently issued a report detailing how the U.S. food and beverage supply chain produces "safe, abundant, accessible and nutritious" options for Americans.
Kennedy also said at the rally in Austin that he wanted to close a regulatory "loophole" regarding Generally Recognized as Safe policies, a move some have been calling for years.
By law, any substance intentionally added to food is deemed a food additive, which is subject to premarket review and approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), unless the substance is "generally recognized, among qualified experts, as having been adequately shown to be safe under the conditions of its intended use, or unless the use of the substance is otherwise excepted from the definition of a food additive."
In other words, it is given a GRAS classification. However, as GRAS-labelled ingredients do not require FDA approval, food companies have been able to bypass federal regulatory review through this policy, which the Environmental Working Group has warned has led to "hundreds of chemicals being added to food products without FDA oversight – and without the public knowing of the potential health risks."
What People Are Saying
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at the rally: "A healthy person has a thousand dreams. A sick person only has one. And right now, most of our kids only have one dream, and that's not good for our country."
What Happens Next
It is not yet clear what Kennedy's plans for Dunkin' Donuts or Starbucks are.
Update 3/6/26, 3:12 a.m. ET: This article has been updated following a response from HHS.
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