RFK Jr. says White House pushed for Oreo ice cream on food pyramid

Apparently, one of the fiercest battles over the Trump administration’s food pyramid had nothing to do with beef, butter, or vegetables. It was over Oreo ice cream. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said during the recent 2026 MAHA Summit in Washington, D.C., that he and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins faced some last-minute pressure from the White House while putting together the administration’s new food pyramid. And Kennedy knew exactly who he wanted to question about it. “We got tremendous pressure from the White House at the last minute to put Oreo ice cream at the top of the food pyramid,” Kennedy told the crowd. Then, in a video posted by Mid Michigan Now, he turned to Vice President JD Vance. “I heard that that came from the vice president’s office, and I want to just ask you face to face in front of an audience, is that true?” Vance did not exactly rush to clear his name. “I like ice cream,” he said. He followed that admission with another: “I’m like the Brett Kavanaugh of ice cream. He liked beer; I liked ice cream.” When Kennedy pushed him again on whether his office was responsible for the great Oreo ice cream lobbying effort, Vance settled on “no comment.” So, make of that what you will. The exchange came during a conversation about the administration’s Make America Healthy Again initiative, which has put food and agriculture squarely in the middle of a national discussion about nutrition, chronic disease and what Americans put on their plates. The summit also featured Rollins in a discussion about securing the U.S. food supply, along with conversations about getting “real food” to consumers at scale. But Vance’s relationship with ice cream wasn’t quite finished. The vice president told the audience that Kennedy had put him on a “crazy diet” that dramatically cut into his ice cream consumption. Vance said he called Kennedy on Fat Tuesday before Lent and floated what seemed like a fairly reasonable idea: giving up sugar for 40 days. “What are the health benefits of giving up sugar?” Vance recalled asking. Kennedy apparently had bigger plans. “He was like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, have I got the thing for you.’” “And again, that was Fat Tuesday,” Vance said. “And thanks to Bobby Kennedy, fat Wednesday never came.” Kennedy said Vance spent time following a carnivore and fermented-food diet, something the vice president confirmed. In the end, Oreo ice cream did not make it to the top of the food pyramid. But if Kennedy’s story is any indication, it wasn’t for lack of trying.