Big Food Is Creating ‘Fake’ Health Groups to Confuse Consumers
August 09, 20263:16 PM ETA top official in the Department of Health and Human Services accused an advocacy group with ties to multiple corporations that produce processed foods of helping attack Secretary. . .
August 09, 20263:16 PM ETA top official in the Department of Health and Human Services accused an advocacy group with ties to multiple corporations that produce processed foods of helping attack Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ’s pro-organic foods pitch. Secretary Kennedy, who promised special attention to the U. S. food supply, dismissed criticism of the Department of Health and Human Services’s (HHS) handling of the cyclospora outbreak as “invalid” and not linked to reductions in force at the agency, PoliticoreportedSaturday. Singling out a number of critics, HHS senior adviser Calley Means went on to allege in anX postthat same day that the Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness (STOP) is “a fake ‘food borne illness advocacy’ group [funded] to give quotes to media attacking RFK’s ‘real food’ pitch and argue ultraprocessed food is safer. ”(RELATED: America’s Biggest Beverage Companies Take A Step In MAHA’s Direction)STOP, HHS, and Means did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment. You actually can’t make this up. These companies are funding a fake “food borne illness advocacy” group to give quotes to media attacking RFK’s “real food” pitch and argue ultraprocessed food is safer. This is the group quoted in article, run by former Biden official. https://t. co/buiG5ypURUpic. twitter. com/p7QtI0Yzcf— Calley Means (@calleymeans)August 8, 2026Cyclospora is a parasite which can causecyclosporiasis— which is characterized by severe diarrhea — in its hosts. The Centers for Disease Control and Preventionreportedover 10,000 domestic laboratory-confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis — linked to certain supplies of contaminated iceberg lettuce — since May 1, 2026, in addition to another 12,000 reports which have not been fully evaluated. “We do have the [cyclospora] outbreak under control,” Kennedysaidduring a July 21 press conference. “We’ve identified the source of the outbreak. We and the companies that are involved have implemented a recall. ”The outbreak appears to be a test of Kennedy’s emphasis on turning the public’s diet away from artifical and processed foods. Kennedy likewiseannouncedthe launch “The Real Food Show” on July 30, aimed at “empower[ing] families to make healthy eating practical, approachable, and affordable. ”“If we have outbreaks like this one and then a few months later, it’s another one, that totally undermines the message,” STOP CEO Sandra Eskin told Politico. President Joe Biden appointed Eskin as the Department of Agriculture’s deputy under secretary for food safety in March 2021. STOP was founded in 1994 to increase awareness of foodborne illnesses after a 1993 E. coli outbreak caused by undercooked fast food hit the West Coast, according to the nonprofit’swebsite. Many of the nonprofit’s partners includefood and beverageindustry titans such as Hershey, Kellogg, Mars, Nestlé, and PepsiCo. STOP, however, also includes partners such as Amazon, Costco, and Wegmans. An estimated 53% of Americans reported having “some” or “a lot” of confidence in the Food and Drug Administration’s handling of the outbreak, according to a CBS Newspollpublished July 26.