Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has promised that by April, the federal government will issue a definition of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) as part of the “Make America Healthy Again” campaign. Kennedy told Joe Rogan on his podcast that a definition will be used to create a nutritional label that indicates, in red, yellow, and green, how nutritious a processed food product is. Whether it will lead to bans on ingredients is still unclear.

Kennedy is importing a failed European idea. For years, the European Union has promoted Nutri-Score, a label that grades food from A to E for nutritional quality. Yet even after all that time, it has not been made mandatory because the system is widely criticized as misleading. For good reason: A label like this cannot meaningfully tell consumers whether a product belongs in a healthy diet. Nutri-Score can give Coke Zero a favorable rating even though it contains none of the fiber, vitamins, or minerals that actually nourish the body.

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