By Jessica DiNapoli
ORLANDO (Reuters) – Mondelez CEO Dirk van de Put on Tuesday said the Oreo maker will face new cost pressures from the Make America Healthy Again movement spearheaded by U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr and that Americans would see price hikes.
Make America Healthy Again could require that Mondelez reformulate its U.S. products, which include Ritz crackers and Chips Ahoy cookies, Van de Put said at an industry conference. That would mean swapping out ingredients and food dyes it currently uses.
Kennedy has said he plans to go after food additives, and has also criticized ultra-processed foods.
When Kennedy was sworn in as Secretary of Health and Human Services last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to establish a commission to “Make America Healthy Again,” to investigate chronic illness and deliver an action plan to fight childhood diseases.
MAHA is comparing U.S. food manufacturing to rivals in Europe, Van de Put said. Because Mondelez does business in both regions, it would be “relatively straightforward” for the Chicago-based company to adapt its recipes, he added.
“It’s work that needs to be done,” said Van de Put. “It’s cost that will come.”
Additional costs the company will face stemming from MAHA will ultimately trickle down to price hikes facing consumers at store shelves, Van de Put said.
U.S. consumers are still reeling from once-in-a-generation levels of food inflation stemming from a supply chain crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some ingredients, like eggs, cocoa and coffee, continue to rise in price dramatically, though for different reasons.
It’s not an easy time to raise prices, Van de Put said, “so I do expect it will take us a few years to work our way through this.”
He also said consumers will need to get used to chocolate that is 30% to 50% more expensive than it used to be “because that’s what we’re going to see” due to a supply crisis in Africa. Mondelez manufactures Cadbury and Milka chocolates.
(Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in Orlando; additional reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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