{"id":343535,"date":"2026-07-17T15:46:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/343535\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T15:46:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:46:18","slug":"tampa-general-hospital-signs-on-to-rfk-jr-s-make-hospital-food-healthier-pledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/343535\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa General Hospital signs on to RFK Jr.’s ‘Make Hospital Food Healthier\u2019 pledge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RobertTampa General Hospital CEO John Couris, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, and chef Geoffrey Zakarian at a press conference at Tampa General Hospital on July 16, 2026.
Credit: Mitch Perry\/Florida Phoenix<\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins came to Tampa General Hospital Thursday to celebrate hospital officials signing on to the Trump administration\u2019s new\u00a0dietary initiative<\/a>, the \u2018Make Hospital Food Healthier\u2019 pledge, designed to improve hospital food.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really incredible that we\u2019ve been feeding patients this pudding and Jello with sugar drinks when 50% of them are pre-diabetic or diabetic and, for a long time, we\u2019ve understood the relationship between food and health and recovery and recidivism and all of these issues, and it\u2019s good to see the leadership from John Couris and this extraordinary hospital,\u201d Kennedy said, referring to Tampa General\u2019s president and general manager.<\/p>\n

While Kennedy, Rollins, and the Trump administration have been rolling out their plan to provide healthier food to patients, Tampa General under Couris\u2019 leadership and with celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian have had a head start, deciding about two-and-a-half years ago it was time to redesign their menus, rebuild their kitchens, train their staff, and collaborate with physicians at the University of South Florida on building a menu designed to raise the quality of food they serve their patients.<\/p>\n

Hospital officials said Thursday that since the new menu was completed in October, patients have reported a 53% increase in food quality.<\/p>\n

Kennedy\u2019s nomination as HHS secretary was controversial because of his long track record of questioning vaccine safety. His\u00a0\u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d (MAHA) platform<\/a>\u00a0has earned more popular support.<\/p>\n

He said Thursday that one of the first things he and Rollins worked on after the Trump administration 2.0 began was to\u00a0invert the traditional food pyramid<\/a>\u00a0by prioritizing proteins, dairy, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats and reducing highly processed foods. HHS and the USDA released that document in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Brooke and I came in, we were handed the dietary guidelines that had been worked for four years during the Biden administration,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were 453 pages long. They were incompressible, and it reflected the mercantile impulses because they were written by food industry lobbyists.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the same impulse had driven Fruit Loops at the top of the old food pyramid. Which isn\u2019t even a food, it\u2019s like a foodlike substance. And we brought together the best scientists and nutritionists in the country from the biggest universities in this country, and we basically locked them in a room for a year, and we said we want something under 10 pages that everybody can understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

In March, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services\u00a0sent a notice<\/a>\u00a0telling hospitals they would be required to follow the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans to continue to receive Medicaid and Medicare payments.<\/p>\n

Healthy template<\/p>\n

That memo said that hospital leadership and nutrition departments must evaluate:<\/p>\n

Elimination of refined grains, replacing them with 100% whole grains.<\/p>\n

Prioritizing minimally processed protein sources, including plant-based options.<\/p>\n

Emphasizing vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds, seafood, and healthy fats.<\/p>\n

Making sure vegetables and proteins are baked, broiled, roasted, stir-fried, or grilled rather than deep-fried.<\/p>\n

Eliminating processed meats and foods that are high in added sugars, sodium, and artificial additives.<\/p>\n

Making sure meals contain less than 10 grams of added sugar, unless clinically appropriate.<\/p>\n

Kennedy said \u201ca template\u201d for serving healthy foods in hospitals had been created at Tampa General, and that as one of the largest hospitals in the country (with 1,000 beds, soon to go up to 1,200 beds), \u201cwe can say that, \u2018If they did it, you can do it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Kennedy said that the concept of providing healthier meals will spread across government departments.<\/p>\n

\u201cPete Hegseth is cooperating with us and doing it on all of the military bases,\u201d he said. \u201cTwo-thirds of the military meals were thrown out because the only metric they used in purchasing food commodities is shelf life. Nobody was looking at nutrition. And the troops weren\u2019t eating it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that healthier foods would also be introduced in schools, prisons, and military bases.<\/p>\n

Florida Phoenix<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article appears in July 16 \u2013 22, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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