NYT’s fact-check of RFK Jr.’s claims about popular breakfast cereal stuns social media

The New York Times offered a baffling fact-check of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s claim that a popular breakfast cereal in the United States contains several artificial ingredients.

The former Democratic-turned-Independent presidential candidate endorsed President-elect Donald Trump after suspending his 2024 campaign in August. On Thursday, Trump announced he had nominated Kennedy to head the Department of Health and Human Services in his incoming administration.

Kennedy has pledged to tackle chronic health issues facing Americans and take on “corruption” within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in order to “Make America Healthy Again.” 

In an interview on MSNBC after Trump’s victory earlier this month, Kennedy suggested the second Trump administration could eliminate entire departments within the FDA: “In some categories, their entire departments, like the nutrition department in the FDA, they have to go. They’re not doing their job. They’re not protecting our kids. Why do we have Froot Loops in this country that have 18 or 19 ingredients, and you go to Canada, and it’s got two or three?”

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The New York Times published a report on Friday analyzing Kennedy’s views on artificial food ingredients that specifically fact-checked the Trump nominee for his claims about Froot Loops using different ingredients in their U.S. product versus Canadian product.

“Mr. Kennedy has singled out Froot Loops as an example of a product with too many artificial ingredients, questioning why the Canadian version has fewer than the U.S. version,” the Times’ report read. “But he was wrong. The ingredient list is roughly the same, although Canada’s has natural colorings made from blueberries and carrots while the U.S. product contains red dye 40, yellow 5 and blue 1 as well as Butylated hydroxytoluene, or BHT, a lab-made chemical that is used ‘for freshness,’ according to the ingredient label.”

The strange fact-check, which seemed to prove rather than disprove Kennedy’s point about artificial ingredients being included in the U.S. version of the cereal, drew critics to mock the paper.

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“Spitting out my coffee after reading this NYT ‘fact check’ of RFK Jr.,” X user Brad Cohn wrote in a post that drew over 4 million views on the social media platform. 

He added in mockery, “‘As you see, the ingredient list is just completely identical, except the US product contains formaldehyde, cyanide, and nearly undetectable levels of saxitoxin.'”

“Read this ‘fact check’ on @RobertFKennedyJr from the NYT and tell me with a straight face we don’t need a radical transformation of our media and health agencies,” Jason Howerton, CEO of REACH digital, posted to X.

“This is what passes for a ‘fact check’ at The New York Times,” Turning Points USA founder Charlie Kirk wrote on X. “The media lie a lot, but fortunately for us, they are also VERY stupid.”

“This has got to be the dumbest ‘Fact Check’ on RFK Jr. from the New York Times… who approved this?” podcaster Jay Anderson posted to X.

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The New York Times did not immediately return a request for comment.

Kennedy’s nomination spurred a wave of media reports with warnings from Democrats and medical professionals that Kennedy is a threat to public health and will “cost lives” because of his skepticism of vaccines.

Fox News’ Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.