President-elect Donald Trump has announced key cabinet nominations ahead of his January 20 inauguration. In November, he nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), with a mission to implement a “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, which includes plans to eliminate chemical additives from the U.S. food supply.
Recent social media posts have sparked rumors that Kennedy intends to ban Hershey’s chocolate.
“BREAKING: Effective January 20th, Hershey’s Chocolate will be BANNED in the United States. Make America Healthy Again,” reads a post on X, featuring a screenshot purportedly from Kennedy’s account. This post claims the ban is part of Kennedy’s “war on bioengineered food.”
Commenters questioned whether these claims are true.
THE QUESTION
Has Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced plans to ban Hershey’s chocolate?
THE SOURCES
- Parody account that made the original Diet Coke ban post
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s real X, Instagram and Facebook accounts
- Review of Hershey’s website and socialmediaaccounts
THE ANSWER
No, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has not announced plans to ban Hershey’s chocolate.
WHAT WE FOUND
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has not announced plans for a ban on Hershey’s chocolate. The claim originated from a parody account with the display name “Robert F. Kennedy Jr – Health Secretary Parody.” The account has since been suspended on X, but it previously spread a similar false claim about Kennedy wanting to ban Diet Coke.
Social media posts sharing screenshots from the parody account cropped out the word “parody,” making it appear as if the posts were from Kennedy’s official account.
Kennedy’s real X account, with the display name “Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” has 5 million followers and doesn’t include the dash mark and ellipsis seen in the screenshots about a Hershey’s ban.
Kennedy has not posted anything about a possible Hershey’s chocolate ban on his real account, nor on his Instagram or Facebook pages.
VERIFY found no credible news articles supporting claims of a Hershey’s chocolate ban. Additionally, Hershey’s websites and socialmediaaccounts do not indicate any plans to halt chocolate sales in the U.S. after Inauguration Day.
We reached out to Kennedy and Hershey’s for comment but did not hear back at the time of publication.