WEDNESDAY, July 9, 2025 (HealthDay News) — A government-backed meal delivery service for people on Medicaid and Medicare is getting national attention — but not all of it is positive.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently praised Mom’s Meals, a company that sends prepackaged meals to people who are older or living with illnesses like cancer or diabetes, the Associated Press reported.

“This is really one of the solutions for making our country healthy again,” Kennedy said in a video posted on X.

He toured the company’s Oklahoma facility last week and thanked them for providing meals “without additives.”

But experts say that’s not entirely true.

An Associated Press investigation found that many of Mom’s Meals' offerings are highly processed and contain ingredients that wouldn’t be found in a home kitchen.

Marion Nestle, a nutrition expert at New York University, reviewed the menu, including nutrition labels and ingredients.

Some meals — like chicken bacon ranch pasta or French toast sticks with ham — were high in salt, sugar or saturated fat, Nestle said.

“It is perfectly possible to make meals like this with real foods and no ultra-processing additives but every one of the meals I looked at is loaded with such additives,” she said.

“What’s so sad is that they don’t have to be this way," Nestle added. "Other companies are able to produce much better products, but of course they cost more.”

She noted that Mom’s Meals do not have the petroleum dyes that Kennedy is pushing companies to remove from their products.

Experts say most food is processed in some way. But ultraprocessed foods are made in factories and contain chemical additives, preservatives or dyes that wouldn't be used at home. These foods have been linked to health risks like obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

Teresa Roof, a spokesperson for Mom’s Meals, told the AP that the company’s products "do not include ingredients that are commonly found in ultra-processed foods" such as synthetic food dyes or high fructose corn syrup.

The meals are delivered to patients through certain Medicaid and Medicare programs.

It’s unclear how much taxpayer money goes to these programs. A STAT News report last year found that some states spend millions on similar meal programs, even when the meals were packed with salt, fat or sugar.

The meals are "a healthy alternative” to what many people would find in their grocery stores, Andrew Nixon, U.S. Health and Human Services spokesperson, told the AP.

Kennedy, who has pushed for better food policies and fewer ultraprocessed foods, has made improving Americans’ diets a key goal under his "Make America Healthy Again" initiative.

He says eating more whole foods is the foundation for better health, the AP said.

“This country has lost the most basic of all freedoms — the freedom that comes from being healthy,” Kennedy said.

More information

Yale Medicine has more on ultraprocessed foods.

SOURCE: The Associated Press, July 7, 2025