On March 30, 2026, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., on the latest leg of his national Take Back Your Health tour, celebrated the hospital’s new commitments to strengthen nutrition-driven patient care by connecting a Florida farm directly to the hospital’s food system.
Secretary Kennedy also announced that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a Special Quality and Safety Alert directing hospitals to meet patient nutrition standards by aligning foods with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and reducing ultra-processed foods, sugar-sweetened beverages, refined carbohydrates, and added sugars.
Headlines
Medical professionals
Government officials
organization
Influencers & Members of the Media
Headlines
- POLITICS: RFK Jr. pushes to get junk food out of hospitals in Florida
- Bloomberg: RFK Jr. Taking His Eat-Real-Food Campaign to Hospital Trays
- Washington Examiner: RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz says hospitals will lose funding if they provide unhealthy food.
- Epoch Times: RFK Jr. Says Hospital Should Serve Healthy Food
- South Florida Sun Sentinel: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stopped in Miami to announce a healthy hospital menu initiative
- Miami Herald: Miami-area hospitals are changing patient meals. See what HHS Secretary Kennedy said
- Florida Voices: Kennedy, Simpson encourage farm-to-hospital partnerships in Florida to replace junk food with fresh, local fare
- WPEC BPS 12 Miami: RFK Jr., Dr.
- Medpage Today: Hospitals Need to Up Their Game on the Food They Serve, Federal Officials Say
- Fierce Health Care: HHS urges hospitals to align patient menus with updated dietary guidelines
- Modern Healthcare: RFK Jr. takes his eat-real-food campaign to hospital trays
- Eating Civil: Trump Administration Tells Hospitals to Align with New Nutrition Guidelines
- Food Fix: Trump Administration to hospitals: Ultra-processed foods
- Stone of the New Food Pyramid: Opinion – If Hospitals Don’t Serve Real Food, They May Lose Federal Funds – And It’s Time
Medical professionals
- John Morton, MD, Professor of Surgery at Yale School of Medicine, via X: “For Healthy Patients, we need Healthy Hospitals including food for patients and providers!”
- Dr. Will Cole, author of The Art of Being Well, via X: “‘Eat Real Food’ is now a hospital policy. HHS Secretary RFK Jr. dropped a national alert: US hospitals must serve healthy foods-prioritizing real, nutrient-dense foods and cutting sugary, processed foods – or risk losing Medicare & Medicaid funding.
- Dr. Shayan Sen, Doctor of Pharmacy, via X: “Regardless of your political affiliation- this is actually positive. The hospital serves some of the worst food in the country. I’m curious to see what the end result will be.”
- Kate John, RN, via X: “Thank you Jesus for @SecKennedy. It’s unbelievable that this even needs to be done. Hospitals should be a place of healing and set the ultimate standard to guide people in healing including demonstrating a healthy diet. Through federal, subsidies and perverse incentives that hospitals have become a place for big food companies to gobble up market share.”
- Kaushal Kulkarni, MD, physician and founder of Healthcare, via X: “US health care spending just hit ~$5T/year, with ~90% tied to chronic diseases. Today, Dr. Oz @DrOzCMS at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services @CMSGov reminded hospitals what Hippocrates said way back in 400BC: Let’s all have a proper diet and health. The American diet is the basis of the epidemic of chronic diseases.
- Irene Mavrakakis, MD, doctor via X: “This is great. Long overdue.”
- Dr. Abdul Hamad, a Canadian rehabilitation and pain medicine expert, translated via X: “Today, CMS issued a memo to every hospital telling them to stop providing sugary drinks + inflammatory processed foods to patients, or they will risk getting their rights. This is a bold and logical action that will save lives…”
Government officials
- Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, via The Miami Herald: “It’s about putting real food back at the center of our food supply, and it’s about supporting America’s farmers while improving patient outcomes, especially for our children…”
- Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, Wilton Simpson, via X: “Honored to be with Secretary Kennedy, the America First Policy Institute, and our amazing partners at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami today. We are 100 percent on board with the Trump Administration’s commitment to drive REAL FOOD and advance the “Food is Health” initiative across the country and develop today’s momentum compact. health care – breaking down barriers and making it easier for hospitals to source directly from Florida producers Because here in Florida, we don’t just talk about it – we grow up!
- Rep. Vern Buchanan via press release: “For too long, our health system has focused on treating disease instead of preventing it. I applaud the Trump administration and Secretary Kennedy for putting nutrition at the forefront of health care. What we serve patients with problems as much as their prescriptions. To achieve better results, lower costs and healthier communities, we must prioritize prevention, champion physical activity and these new partnerships intervene more Florida better. Connecting hospitals and local producers deliver fresher, nutrient-rich food to patients, support farmers and strengthen our food supply chain.
- Texas State Representative Tom Oliverson, MD, via X: “One of my serious pet peeves is how terrible hospital food can be and how unhealthy it is… It’s really been a while!”
organization
- America’s First Policy Director and Health Policy Director, Hannah Anderson, said in a press release: “Florida shows what’s possible when health, agriculture, and public officials work together to put patients first…
- America First Policy Institute Chief External Affairs Officer and Chair of America’s First Women Initiative, Stacey Schieffelin, through a press release: “Every state should be able to do this… This is not red or blue—this is about feeding Americans and helping families live healthier lives.”
- MAHA Aksi via X: “RFK Jr. recently shared that the hospital is giving diabetics food like Jell-O and Coca-Cola in critical condition. ‘Diabetic women… immediately offered… Jell-O and Coca-Cola.’ ‘And a number of foods which all contain sugar which will all damage the metabolic system and make diabetes worse.’ ‘We have the best doctors… and the best hospitals in the world.’ ‘But… they don’t yet know that the most important medical tool today is good food.’ “
- Action MAHA via X: “RFK Jr. just announced hospitals will now be required to provide healthy meals to maintain federal funding. “Dr. Oz is sending a health and safety notice to every hospital in the country…
- America’s Essential Hospitals via press release: “CMS encourages hospitals to review and update their food and nutrition service policies, standard menus, therapeutic diet protocols, and food procurement practices to align with the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.”
- American Hospital Association via press release: “The memo reminds hospitals of the Medicare participation conditions that require hospitals to ensure menus and diets meet the nutritional needs of individual patients in accordance with recognized dietary practices. It also asks hospitals to review and revise food and nutrition service policies, standard menus, therapy protocols and other practices to conform to the recently issued 2025-2030 American Dietary Guides.”
- Children’s Health Defense via X: “Dr. Oz said when he was a doctor he was told not to eat hospital food because it could make him sick. ‘I started my career at Columbia University … they would give us food.’ “We will get the same food as the patients in the ICU.” ‘The village chiefs will tell us … don’t eat food.’ ‘If you eat the food, you will get sick.’ ‘But we will give it to the patient.’ “
- Foresight Institute Cofounder and Senior Fellow, Christine Peterson, via X: “Regardless of what you think about the current US administration, if you’ve ever seen US hospital food, you know there’s a big problem. Sick people need high-quality food”
Influencers & Members of the Media
- @EricLDaugh, Chief Content Officer for Right Line News and FL Voice News, via X: “BREAKING: Health Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Oz just told every single hospital in America to use REAL FOOD in accordance with the new HHS guidelines, if they want to keep getting Medicare and Medicaid funding. BIG WIN!”
- @theGaryBrecka via X: “For the first time, hospitals are being encouraged to move away from ultra-processed, sugar-laden foods… and toward real, nutrient-dense, protein-advanced foods that actually support healing. Led by @SecKennedy and @DrOzCMS this is the beginning of a system that finally recognizes everything. either heals you or harms you. I’ve seen patients fighting for their lives fed soda, jello, and processed foods…
- @BrandonStraka via X: “HHS officials encourage hospitals to align food with federal dietary guidelines or risk Medicare and Medicaid costs. “Dr. Oz sends health and safety notices…
- @Eva Knott via X: “US health officials yesterday informed hospitals that they must provide patients with more nutritious food. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on March 30 that the new “federal mandate” will incentivize hospitals to serve better food. “The food in hospitals is so uniformly, appallingly bad that it is now a pejorative,” said someone that “if you don’t like this food, “said someone. praise.”
- @FloridaGrand via X: “The MAHA movement, engineered by HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., came to Miami yesterday at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital where Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson announced that Florida will take up the Trump administration’s latest health push to bring healthier food to hospitals. Simpson specifically has been expanding on a program started last year that connects these farmers with healthy food and Florida ranchers reduced bank. It may be the best thing the Trump administration has done during its tenure…”
- @StephenGardnerX via X: “BREAKING: RFK Jr. & Dr. Oz encourage hospitals nationwide to adopt “real food” standards—or risk losing Medicare & Medicaid funding. New HHS guidance ties hospital food purchases to federal dietary rules, creating strong incentives to comply. MAHA wins”
- @itsmarlamaples via X: “Very good friends…We will not stop fighting for children’s health, let’s give every child an honest child for a healthy life”
- @CalGreekGirl, owner of Ethos Culinary, via X: “If you’ve ever been a patient at this hospital it’s a must!”
- @BoLoudon via X: “Offense: If America’s Hospitals want to continue receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding, they MUST use REAL FOOD, per Trump admin officials RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz. Making America Healthy Again!”
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