On Monday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, lauded a business that delivers $7 meals to the homes of Medicare and Medicaid participants.
The fact that Mom’s Meals delivers government-funded meals “without additives” to the houses of ill and elderly Americans was also acknowledged by him. French breakfast sticks topped with fruit or ham patties are available, as are chicken bacon ranch spaghetti for supper.
According to Kennedy, who inspected the company’s Oklahoma plant last week, “This is really one of the solutions for making our country healthy again” in a video that was posted to his official health secretary account.
The heat-and-eat, ultraprocessed meals sold by Mom’s Meals are exactly the kind that Kennedy frequently accuses of making people ill, according to an Associated Press analysis of the menu that includes nutrition labels and ingredients.
A dietitian from New York University and an expert in food policy, Marion Nestle, examined the menu for The Associated Press and stated that the meals had chemical additions that would make them hard to make at home. She made the point that many of the menu items are heavy in salt and that some are also heavy in sugar and saturated fats.
“It is entirely feasible to prepare these meals using whole foods and without the use of ultra-processing additives, however, all of the meals that I examined contained an excessive amount of these ingredients,” Nestle stated. The fact that they aren’t required to act this way is the worst part. Of course, some firms’ items are more expensive, but they’re also far superior.
Kennedy has pushed for the removal of artificial, petroleum-based coloring from products, but Mom’s Meals do not include them, she pointed out.
“Our food products do not include ingredients that are commonly found in ultra-processed foods,” Mom’s Meals stated in an email statement. According to Teresa Roof, a representative from the firm, none of their products include synthetic preservatives, sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, or artificial food colors—all of which are prohibited in Europe.
U.S. Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon responded to inquiries on Mom’s Meals by saying the meals offer a “healthy alternative” to what many individuals would get in their local grocery shops.
A number of American businesses provide what are known as “medically tailored” home delivery services, and Mom’s Meals is just one of them. Medicaid pays for the meal programs for some participants, including those with chronic diseases like diabetes or cancer and some seniors with Medicare Part A and Part B coverage.
The company’s website states that patients who have just been discharged from the hospital are also eligible to have the meals delivered.
The annual amount that the federal government spends on feeding people via programs like Medicare and Medicaid is not well known. Some states were spending millions of dollars on medically customized meals for Medicaid members that were sold as healthful and “dietician approved,” according to an investigation by STAT news last year. The survey found that many businesses provided meals that were high in sugar, fat, and salt, all of which contribute to an unhealthy American diet.
It is not always easy to define ultraprocessed foods. The majority of foods sold in the United States undergo some kind of processing, be it freezing, grinding, fermentation, pasteurization, or another method. The most processed foods are those that have been industrially produced and contain chemicals, colors, and preservatives that would be impossible to prepare at home.
Kennedy has stated that he intends to “Make America Healthy Again” by advocating for better eating habits in the United States. Kennedy has forged a rare combination of Trump supporters and suburban mothers who have self-identified as “MAHA” thanks to his appeal for Americans to eat more whole foods.
In a recent social media post, Kennedy voiced his disapproval of the high consumption of ultraprocessed foods in the American diet and encouraged his followers to adopt healthy eating habits.
“The freedom that comes from being healthy is the most basic of all freedoms,” Kennedy stated, lamenting the fact that the nation had lost this gift.
