‘RFK Jr believes chronic illness is primarily caused by processed foods and dyes, exposure to certain chemicals, and poor farming practices.’ Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images View image in fullscreen ‘RFK Jr believes chronic illness is primarily caused by processed foods and dyes, exposure to certain chemicals, and poor farming practices.’ Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images Food & drink industry A ‘freaked out’ US food industry is hitting back at Maha – with social media influencers Cross-partisan support in Washington on issues like pesticides and food additives pose a threat to the industry’s bottom line
Prefer the Guardian on Google S ome of the biggest food and agriculture corporations in the US are funding a campaign that pays social media influencers to combat elements of Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Make America Healthy Again platform, according to an investigation by the Guardian and Documented, an investigative watchdog and journalism project.
The ascension of RFK Jr to secretary of health and human services has boosted his putative campaign to end chronic illness in the US, which he believes is primarily caused by processed foods and dyes, exposure to certain chemicals, and poor farming practices, along with an overuse of what he falsely claims are dangerous vaccines. The “Maha” movement blends long-running mainstream concerns about food and farm safety with conspiracy theories about everything from medicine to milk. A Maha “ summit ” in Washington this week will feature JD Vance and several members of Trump’s cabinet.
A KFF poll from May 2026 reveals that some Maha themes resonate with a broad segment of US adults. About four in 10 say they support the Maha movement, while a majority of the public say there is not enough regulation of pesticides used in agriculture (64%) or of chemical food additives (75%).
View image in fullscreen An Eat Real Food rally at Brazos Hall in Austin, Texas, on 26 February. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images Cross-partisan support in Washington on some of these issues poses a threat to the food industry’s bottom line – though the Trump administration has largely stopped short of enacting new regulations.
But several large corporations are fighting back. An effort by the Center for Food Integrity, an industry-funded non-profit, tracks public sentiment around key issues central to Maha and suggests ways that agricultural interests can counter those narratives by appealing to emotion or scientific reasoning.
They call it Gaha: Growing a Healthier America. Documents show the coordinated effort is tracking Maha closely and researching ways to respond to the movement’s claims without alienating its supporters. They are focused on several key areas: seed oils, pesticides, high-fructose corn syrup, regenerative agriculture, organic farming, raw milk/dairy and “big ag”, internal documents obtained by the Guardian and Documented show.
The campaign involves deploying social media influencers with significant reach online in an effort to rebuild trust in the industries that the Maha movement has made their target. The Gaha influencer campaign officially launched late last year. In February, CFI compiled a report listing dozens of sponsored posts on platforms such as online blogs, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram about key Gaha subjects. So far, at least six influencers have signed on to the Gaha campaign, reaching a total audience of more than 2.6 million viewers.
Influencers who participated in the paid…