On Feb. 13, 2025, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was appointed the new secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services under the presidency of Donald Trump. Since then, the public has been riled up about Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” or “MAHA” agenda. The main goals of this agenda are to “address environmental factors contributing to chronic diseases and other health impacts in children,” according to the National Institutes of Health. 

Kennedy aims to establish big changes in food products across the nation. This includes replacing petroleum-based food dyes and seed oils with natural dyes and animal-based fats. He’s pushed fast food restaurants such as Steak ‘n Shake and Popeyes to switch to frying foods with 100% beef tallow. Beef tallow is fat directly sourced and rendered from beef tissue, including from muscle or around a cow’s organs. Kennedy has also claimed that the amounts of ultra-processed foods in schools are harming children and teens.

His new role has not come without its criticisms. The Doctors for America expressed their disappointment in Kennedy’s confirmation.

“His failure to endorse evidence-based medicine amidst a growing measles outbreak should immediately disqualify him from continuing to lead this Agency,” the DFA said in a statement. 

Allison Demory, the Nutrition Services Director for the Iowa City Community School District, spoke on changes to ICCSD school lunches and her personal view on this topic as a professional in the area of nutrition.

The following interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

What would you say Kennedy is planning to achieve through this MAHA program?

I have no idea is the short answer. 

I am a registered licensed dietitian, and I will tell you that I feel strongly that, in general, food isn’t good or bad. It’s about learning to eat in moderation, eating a variety of foods. I think it’s important to apply those principles.

For example, from time to time, people will ask me about flavored milk. We have chocolate milk in our schools, which is a much bigger seller than white milk. And some people are opposed to that little bit of sugar that’s in there. What I always say is, there’s a difference between adding a little bit of sugar to a nutrient-dense item, like milk, that also provides protein and calcium, versus drinking a regular sugar pop or eating a candy bar. So I think sometimes that those are nuances that aren’t always understood, potentially by folks that don’t necessarily have a background. I would say it’s important to follow the science. 

So how would you say these policies are different from those implemented under the Obama administration?

The Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act started in the 2012-13 school year, and I think that was largely a Michelle Obama initiative. It became polarizing in some ways, just because it’s political, which is unfortunate. I always say you can’t legislate common sense, and I believe that’s true, but with the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act, it was the first time that kids were required to take a fruit or vegetable to make what we call a reimbursable meal. I just don’t see a problem with that. I think again, what we’ve seen in the last 12-13 years is that the student consumption of fruits and veggies has greatly increased, and that’s a fantastic thing.

I don’t think school meals were ever making kids obese, but I also think in an education setting like this, we have an obligation to show and teach kids what a healthy plate should look like, and so we serve a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. Here we have local zucchini. We have local watermelon. Yesterday, we had local apples. On Friday, we have local cherry tomatoes and some heirloom tomatoes as well. We offer a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Our entrees are lower in fat. They’re higher in whole grains, like the breading on our chicken patties or chicken nuggets. Those are all whole-grain breading, so they’re different from what you might purchase at the grocery store. We also menu desserts twice a week. That is what we are required to offer with our federal regulations. And I think it’s important to do that. I don’t think desserts are bad; I think it’s about learning to eat them in moderation. If you eat school lunch, you know a portion is one cookie or one smaller piece of pumpkin bar or whatever the dessert option is for the day. It’s about teaching kids what a healthy tray should look like.

Kennedy has said that “major dramatic changes are coming to school meals.” What he plans to do is allocate about $500 million for this MAHA plan, while cutting money across the HHS and USDA. How do you foresee these policies being implemented as affecting school lunches here in the district? 

I would push back a little on his analysis that school meals aren’t healthy and that they have deteriorated. I can only speak for Iowa City, but again, I think we do offer some Heat and Eat type items, [such as] the chicken nuggets or the chicken patty. But keep in mind, they have whole-grain breading, and they are lower in fat and sodium. Many of those items are commodities, meaning they are produced by farmers, and they are specifically produced for school lunch. That’s a frequent fact that families aren’t aware of. 

I think there is a stereotype that school meals aren’t healthy, and I disagree with that. While it may not be super healthy, I do feel comfortable about the fact that they are specifically geared for child nutrition. We also make a lot of things from scratch. We make different casseroles. We make homemade wheat rolls and homemade oat rolls, and all of our desserts are made from scratch, all of our cookies and bars are made from scratch, and we use whole grain flours for those. 

There are potentially some good things that can come from [these policies], like artificial dyes. I think it is time to take a step back and look at those things and do better. But I think that painting with a broad brush and saying that school lunches aren’t healthy isn’t accurate, and we always want to improve. 

I can tell you that when the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act started in the 2012-13 school year, there was a lot of pushback. It was actually my first year, so I didn’t know any different, but there were directors across the country who didn’t agree with it. But as a dietitian, I thought, What’s wrong with offering more fresh fruits and veggies? And so we embraced it and really leaned into it. I think it’s been a really good thing. So I never want to be closed off to new options. The goal is to always make sure that we’re nourishing minds. Nobody wins when you feed the garbage can, as we say.

Despite these changes being made, they’re saying that RFK isn’t going to implement any additional funding. In fact, he’s canceled some programs in terms of funding. Can our district actually handle these changes financially?

We have a healthy balance. For example, when they took away some of our funding for local produce, we were, and still are, able to provide that. Depending on what his mandates are, you know, time will tell, because I’m not sure what to expect, but I’m not concerned at this point.

We had two and a half years during COVID where all school meals were free to kids. We got reimbursed at a high level during that time because everybody was reimbursed. To kind of give you a little backstory on that, we get federal reimbursement for meals sold so that puts a pretty healthy balance in our bank account. So I think we’re good for a while. We could probably navigate any issues.