Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently praised Mom’s Meals, a company delivering $7 ready-to-eat meals to Medicaid and Medicare recipients. He called their food “without additives” and a solution to improving America’s health.
Kennedy shared his support after touring the company’s Oklahoma facility last week, highlighting meals like chicken bacon ranch pasta and French toast sticks with fruit or ham patties. He said this approach could help make the country healthier.
However, an Associated Press review of Mom’s Meals shows their products are ultraprocessed foods. These meals include chemical additives and ingredients that are difficult to replicate in a home kitchen.
Marion Nestle, a nutritionist at New York University, reviewed the menu and found many meals high in sodium, sugar, and saturated fats. She said such additives often harm health and could be avoided.
“It is possible to make meals like these with real foods and no ultraprocessing,” Nestle said. “But every meal I saw was full of additives. It’s sad because better options exist, though they cost more.”
Mom’s Meals spokeswoman Teresa Roof said the company avoids artificial dyes, high fructose corn syrup, certain sweeteners, and preservatives banned in Europe. But she did not address the use of other additives that make the meals ultraprocessed.
A U.S. Health and Human Services spokesman called the meals a “healthy alternative” compared to typical grocery store options.
Mom’s Meals is among several companies delivering medically tailored meals to homebound Medicaid and Medicare patients. These meals support people with conditions like cancer, diabetes, or recent hospital discharges.
It is unclear how much taxpayers spend annually on these meal programs. A 2024 investigation found some state-funded meals marketed as healthy were loaded with salt, fat, or sugar.
Defining ultraprocessed foods can be complex. While most foods undergo some processing, ultraprocessed foods contain additives, colors, and preservatives that cannot be duplicated at home.
Kennedy has emphasized better diets as part of his “Make America Healthy Again” vision. He urges Americans to eat more whole foods and reduce ultraprocessed items in their diet.
“This country has lost the most basic freedom — the freedom that comes from being healthy,” Kennedy said in a recent post criticizing ultraprocessed food in American diets.
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