- RFK Jr praised Steak 'n Shake for being the first major fast-food chain in the U.S. to switch to cooking its fries in beef tallow.
- The HHS secretary has touted beef tallow as a healthier alternative to seed oils.
- Kennedy also met with several CEOs of leading food companies to discuss improving food safety.
The fast-food chain Steak ‘n Shake recently “RFK’d” its french fries and has started cooking them in beef tallow; on Monday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the restaurant with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
This change by the fast-food restaurant follows Kennedy’s push to move away from over-processed food and provide more transparency about the food Americans are consuming.
During Monday’s “Hannity,” Kennedy, the secretary of Health and Human Services, visited a Steak ‘n Shake location in Florida, following the chain’s announcement that it is now using beef tallow to fry its food.
On Feb. 24, Steak ‘n Shake announced it had begun making its fries with 100% beef tallow in limited locations and that the change would be implemented in all locations by March 1.
“Fries will be RFK’d!” the chain wrote on X.
"Steak ‘n Shake has been great. We’re very grateful to them for RFK’ing the french fries. They turned me into a verb," said Kennedy during “Hannity,” according to Fox News.
Before the switch, the food chain used seed oils, per Mediaite.
RFK Jr.’s push for a switch away from ultra-processed foods
Kennedy has recently popularized beef tallow as a healthier alternative to seed oils, which are a main component in processed foods, per Fox News.
The secretary said that he is working to incentivize restaurants and other food companies to switch over from ultra-processed food.
“We are poisoning ourselves and it’s coming from, you know, principally, these ultra-processed foods,” Kennedy said.
According to Fox News, on Monday Kennedy met with the CEOs of multiple major food companies such as General Mills, WK Kellogg Co., Kraft Heinz and more. The focus of the meeting was on finding ways to advance food safety and consumer trust.
‘People should be able to make their own choices’
During Monday’s show Kennedy said other companies will soon be changing their frying process. He added that he will not be putting out mandates to tell companies how to cook their food.
“People should be able to make their own choices. If you want to eat a donut or seed oils, you should be able to. You should be able to exercise informed choice. You should know what that product is, what’s in your food, and what the health impacts are. And that’s all we’re going to do,” Kennedy said, according to Mediaite.
He added that he will be working on incentivizing companies to be more transparent about what’s in their food.
“We’re going to inform Americans about what’s making them sick. Nobody wants to be sick,” the secretary said, per Mediaite.