RFK Jr threatens to withhold millions in funding for hospitals that serve Jell-O and other sugary treats
Source: The Independent
Thursday 30 April 2026 19:57 EDT
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is leading a charge to stop hospitals from serving sugary drinks and foods, including Jell-O.
The Department of Health and Human Services sent a memo to hospitals on March 30 urging them to align with the Department of Agricultures new 2025-2030 dietary guidelines, which emphasize limiting sugary, ultra-processed foods.
The agency wants hospitals to align their food purchases with the dietary guidelines in order to enjoy continued eligibility for Medicaid and Medicare payments, Kennedy said at a press conference last month.
We shouldnt be giving
people who are sick Jell-O and Cheerios and rubber chicken and sugar drinks, he added.
Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/rfk-jr-hospital-funding-sugary-foods-b2968484.html
NEWSFLASH to the brainworm host - foods like jello are often part of the first "solid" foods that patients get in hospitals as part of the transition from liquid "clears", particularly after surgery. Most hospitals have "nutritionists" who come up with the various meal plans.
I don't think I have seen cereal like "Cheerios" for breakfast in a hospital and certainly no soda. Water (mostly), and maybe some kind of fruit juice (apple or orange).
These nutritionists have DEGREES and are TRAINED IN THEIR FIELD unlike you, THE MOST UNQUALIFIED Secretary of Health and Human Services EVER (and I served under 9 of them before retiring), and your illicit drug-addled self.
oasis
(53,851 posts)Ray Bruns
(6,603 posts)no_hypocrisy
(55,181 posts)ratchiweenie
(8,229 posts)Jell-O's gelatin is derived from the collagen found in the bones, skin, and connective tissues of animals, mainly pigs and cows.
It's still kinda icky and I don't like jello but my husband, son, and grandkids still love it. And yes, sometimes it is the only thing a person can keep down when they are sick. The man is a total idiot.
Irish_Dem
(82,006 posts)Your body needs calories to heal.
question everything
(52,290 posts)Irish_Dem
(82,006 posts)eppur_se_muova
(42,275 posts)Irish_Dem
(82,006 posts)For all the reasons we are mentioning.
They had to keep liquids and calories in their kids when they could not eat for one reason or another.
Dental work, flu, sugary, stomach problems.
ColoringFool
(945 posts)dalton99a
(94,973 posts)Irish_Dem
(82,006 posts)Some years ago I had a serious fall and broke three vertebra in my back.
I had to have surgery to repair all of it.
After the surgery, the pain meds made me sick to my stomach and I could not hold anything down. I could not eat.
The nurses kept telling me that if I did not eat, the bones in my back would not heal.
So it was mostly jello for me. I could keep that down and get some calories in my system.
It kept me going until I could get some food down.
dalton99a
(94,973 posts)yourout
(8,857 posts)This is just nuts.
Hugin
(37,943 posts)They are high in fiber and being oats have many benefits including lower starch and carbohydrates.
Rubber chickens on the other hand.
Hes just talking to hear himself prattle.
samplegirl
(14,078 posts)too!
ShazzieB
(22,787 posts)Including fruits and vegetables, unless you buy only organically grown produce and other plant based foods (which are more expensive, if you can even find the stuff).
I've been alive for over 76 years now, eating stuff RFK Jr would be horrified by the whole time. If the stuff was going to kill me, it's had plenty of time to do so by now. I refuse to worry about what a man who thinks raw milk is a super food says I should or shouldn't eat, lol.
deurbano
(3,003 posts)It was never the germs... but apparently, always the jello.
Plus, does he actually believe in fruits and vegetables, organic or not? His carnivore diet seems to avoid them as much as sugar and grain.
I'm his age, and we are not far behind you in age... and given all his other lifestyle choices, I doubt healthy eating was ever a priority. And apparently, he still goes to tanning salons to achieve a face that looks like an old catcher's mitt! But it's not enough to be so wildly reckless with his own health; he wants others to have the same chance to give themselves skin cancer:
https://www.npr.org/2026/03/19/nx-s1-5752430/fda-tanning-beds
BumRushDaShow
(171,385 posts)(since it will more easily dissolve). But he must be fixating on their flavored versions -

Hugin
(37,943 posts)I can vouch that fiber is your friend.
In the hospitals defense, I have only ever seen the plain variety.
They take the diets very seriously. Like a strict cardiac diet cuts out cheddar cheese. Too much salt. No grilled cheese for you!
BumRushDaShow
(171,385 posts)Been there done that myself (along with family having the ordeal). Have never had any problems with the food.
Back when I was in high school, I used to do 4 hour shifts as a Candy Striper. Had my pink and white-striped jumper, crisply starched hat, and cushiony white "nurse" shoes. Could do my whole hospital round in that slot time frame. Now that hospital has quadrupled in size (I had done the "old original building" back then) and there is no way!
rzemanfl
(31,437 posts)Fuck this guy.
ms liberty
(11,315 posts)Hospital food is fine. Every one I've eaten in for the last, oh my whole lifetime, has been pretty damn good for the most part.
Ilsa
(64,493 posts)usually low fat. I think I'd take a shaker of pepper and some cayenne next time I'm overnight.
Vinca
(54,220 posts)durablend
(9,336 posts)Ferrets are Cool
(23,027 posts)samplegirl
(14,078 posts)Worry about the poison being sprayed on our fruits and vegetables instead????
Glysophate!
lastlib
(28,476 posts)Put more Jell-O on the shopping list.......
Bengus81
(10,298 posts)And to think how much I admired that guy decades ago.
Botany
(77,688 posts)Hospitals have dietitians with college degrees in that subject. They had to take chemistry, biology,
biochemistry, physiology, and lots of classes in food science too. My mother taught human nutrition
@ nursing schools, colleges, as well as working in hospitals, the Ohio Department of Corrections
the inmates got a balanced diet
. and she wrote a textbook that was used all over too.
Btw a lot of people in hospitals are facing life ending diseases and if some chocolates, soda pop,
and cheese burgers make them have a little enjoyment so be it.
RFK Jr. is bereft of any real knowledge. Besides if you snort coke from toilet seats, shot heroin,
and spread disinformation about medicine then you shouldnt be talking about it.
RFK Jr. is like Trump in that he is burning America to the ground.
BigmanPigman
(55,450 posts)Why can't they serve that instead?
I mix it into non fat plain yogurt for a treat.
niyad
(133,557 posts)LeftInTX
(34,728 posts)It's temporary for surgery prep and recovery.
Because it's their only source of calories.
Can't have yogurt on clear liquid diets.
I personally hate the stuff, but had to eat lemon jello for colonscopy prep.
It's that or clear/lemon gatorade or 7UP, which is also high in sugar.
Sugar is the most basic and simplest form of calories.
Post-op clear liquids are also the diet.
BumRushDaShow
(171,385 posts)E.g , something like a low sodium chicken broth from a bullion cube, and FINALLY transitioning to a broth with one fat droplet floating on top, where we could get excited knowing we were on our way to solid food soon.
Hugin
(37,943 posts)Salivation over hot cloudy beige water is something to behold. I dont remember any jell-o. Only bullion, tea, and sometimes ice for dessert.
I could hear the food cart rolling off of the elevator at the way far end of the hall and ever so slowly creeping up my way.
Zackzzzz
(385 posts)My Grandmother was a nurse in 1900 and when I got better she made me this concoction.
It might have a name, I just don't remember.
In your oatmeal bowl, you put a peeled, soft boiled egg.
Chop it up.
Then add a slice of torn, warm bread.
Give a good mix and then add a little milk.
Yummy
Historic NY
(40,112 posts)clear liquid diet, no solid foods..... On my long term hospitalization I was on a feeding tube for 54 days the switch to food took time. They used to mix up a ginger ale slurry with ice to give me some thing to activate swallowing.
Ilsa
(64,493 posts)soft is needed to activate the entirety of the digestive system from lips to anus.
Bristlecone
(11,153 posts)hlthe2b
(114,387 posts)Racygrandma
(199 posts)My husband has to go to the bathroom a lot. He was told jello helps to resolve that issue. So he buys the little jello cups at the store. Yeah brainworm guy.
jfz9580m
(17,600 posts)And was undergoing chemo, finding anything she could keep down was hard.
We just needed to get some calories into her she could keep down. Jello might have worked come to think of it.
Kennedy is an ass.
Wicked Blue
(8,978 posts)topped with raccoon penises
vankuria
(972 posts)The only thing he could get down was ginger ale and popsicle's.
Response to BumRushDaShow (Original post)
vankuria This message was self-deleted by its author.
twodogsbarking
(19,167 posts)-misanthroptimist
(1,766 posts)Where did RFK Jr go to medical school?
IcyPeas
(25,675 posts)Ritabert
(2,554 posts)Lovie777
(23,422 posts)RW 6 jerks is right up with them..................
winning the November elections this year hopefully will be the beginning to end this total nightmare.
The above mentioned people are terrorists and enjoy terrorizing the American people.
liberalgunwilltravel
(1,234 posts)That hospitals must include road kill raccoon penises in every meal.
Joinfortmill
(21,473 posts)El Mimbreno
(822 posts)The worm is smarter.
SpankMe
(3,741 posts)When the federal gov't withheld highway funds from states that didn't implement a 55 mph speed limit on highways, conservatives characterized it as government opression. Any federal gov't monetery incentives used to implement (i.e., 'force') a government policy has been labeled 'overreach'.
Now, suddenly, we're blackmailing hospitals into banning Cheerios and Jello by threatening Medicare and Medicaid money?
The word 'hypocrisy' doesn't begin to cover this.
Also, things like Jello, Cheerios, saltine crackers and such are mild foods that provide a soft touch to the system when recovering from surgery and general anesthesia. You don't eat steak and broccoli as your first meal after waking up. That'll put you into gastric violence.
Further, small children undergoing hospitalization need to consume food - any food - so they don't fall into malnutrition. You can't feed them liver and onions.
70sEraVet
(5,569 posts)We got President Jesus who can heal people with his radioactive hands!
Irish_Dem
(82,006 posts)bluescribbler
(2,544 posts)He should tell them to stop serving overcooked vegetables.
generalbetrayus
(1,946 posts)His cranium is full of it.
idahoblue
(455 posts)Autumn
(48,995 posts)So stupid.
travelingthrulife
(5,460 posts)Martin68
(27,977 posts)or suffering from conditions that impair their ability chew , swallow, or comfortably eat solid food.
dalton99a
(94,973 posts)Jilly_in_VA
(14,528 posts)Because sometimes that's the only thing we could get down our elderly patientents. Or really sick ones whe were on a liquid diet (not dlear).Or milkshakes. Or, God forbid, ICE CREAM for kiddies or adults? Get rid of this idiot by whatever means.
chowder66
(12,413 posts)Buddyzbuddy
(2,785 posts)Help to get corn syrup in any form of ingredients out of "sugar free" food.
You can't recommend that though because that would piss off the corn growers, and the pharmaceutical industry which pays bribe money to politicians.
Truth in labeling is tantamount to people's health.
Buddyzbuddy
(2,785 posts)popsdenver
(2,487 posts)In the Trump/Republican's administration..........
If for every position in their entire CABAL they had a candidate list of descending qualifications of 1000 people made for each job.............they would/have picked # 1000 at the bottom of the list.......SERIOUSLY
AND, it isn't by accident..........
In Hill Billy jargon, all are "suck egg dogs"........
twodogsbarking
(19,167 posts)OMGWTF
(5,193 posts)In high school (class of '74), I was a volunteer Candy Striper at the local hospital. A patient with a broken leg gave me a note and some money to buy him a pack of cigarettes from the gift shop in the lobby. I brought the smokes to him and watched him puff-puff away in front of his doctors. Hell, our high school had a special smoking section for students who weren't old enough to buy cigarettes.
LeftInTX
(34,728 posts)ColoringFool
(945 posts)Grokenstein
(6,394 posts)THEY. WANT. YOU. TO. DIE.
and they want you to suffer while dying.
IcyPeas
(25,675 posts)Bloomberg hoped the ban would spark a nationwide crackdown on sugary beverages. Instead, it became the subject of widespread mockery, inspired an instant-classic New York Post headline (Soda Jerk) and got struck down by a New York judge this week as arbitrary and capricious.
https://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/bloombergs-soda-folly-088841
The first ladys Lets Move! initiative to improve school nutrition and exercise drew some criticism from the right which has been much more muted as the Trump administration promotes MAHA messaging.
But the first lady drew widespread partisan backlash for her efforts, as right-wing media personalities and Republicans vehemently criticized related regulation as government overreach. They have been more muted as the Trump administration, led in part by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now adopts similar messaging about childrens health.
https://19thnews.org/2025/08/michelle-obama-trump-maha-healthy-children/
BumRushDaShow
(171,385 posts)But in the OP's case, brainworm host is looking for a solution to an almost non-existent problem by targeting HOSPITALS, that are already set up for providing specific dietary needs based on a patient's health/condition. But in reality, this is being done to continue to GUT Medicaid by withholding funds.
mercuryblues
(16,492 posts)Lime Jell-o is fantastic made with Tequilla. Coconut Jello with rum...
Jell-o is the gateway drug to blue raspberry and vodka shots.
BumRushDaShow
(171,385 posts)
Goonch
(5,431 posts)