HHS-produced video features RFK Jr. saying FDA will remove petroleum-based food dyes from food and some medicines

A video produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services featured Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announcing that the Food and Drug Administration is taking action to remove petroleum-based food dyes from the U.S. food supply and from some medications, he said.

Kennedy said the move responds to rising chronic illnesses among children. “When my uncle was president in the 19 sixties, we had the healthiest people in the world. 3 percent of American kids had chronic disease. Today, it's around 60 percent,” he said. He added that the administration would “use both gold standard science and common sense.”

The video quoted Kennedy as saying, “Today the FDA is taking action to remove petroleum based food dyes from the U.S. food supply and from medications.” He also said, “We are gonna win this battle. And 4 years from now, we're gonna have most of these products off the market or you will know about them when you go to the grocery store.”

The recorded remarks praised cooperation from food companies and thanked “president Trump” for his confidence in the speaker’s leadership. The short production concludes with the line, “Produced by the US Department of Health and Human Services.”

The statement did not specify which petroleum-based dyes would be targeted, the legal or regulatory mechanism the FDA would use, or an enforcement timeline. The announcement also did not include an on-camera or quoted representative from the FDA in the transcript provided.

Because the recorded remarks are presented as an HHS production and name the FDA as the agency taking action, public interest questions include which specific additives are affected, what rulemaking or administrative steps the agency intends to use, and the timeline for any removals or labeling changes. Those details were not specified in the video transcript.