Billion-Dollar Snack Companies Suddenly Care About Affordability After Jacking Up Prices for Years

Snack and packaged-food giants that rode years of price hikes are now positioning themselves as defenders of shoppers’ wallets, warning Wednesday that state crackdowns on food additives could drive grocery bills even higher.

The pivot marks the industry’s new response to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” campaign: don’t argue about dyes and chemicals — argue about cost. Food makers and their trade groups have ramped up lobbying and launched a new coalition pressing Washington to overrule state-by-state rules, Politico reported. (RELATED: Judge Puts Stop To Food Dye Ban Championed By RFK Jr.)

“President Trump is cutting costs and delivering real relief for working families, but these well-intentioned state bills are creating a patchwork of labeling regulations that could undermine his goal to lower costs for Americans,” Andy Koenig, a senior adviser to Americans for Ingredient Transparency, told Politico.

With its latest approval of a natural blue dye from gardenia fruit, the @US_FDA is driving the move away from petroleum-based synthetic dyes toward safer, natural alternatives—marking the fourth such approval since early May. Thank you for your leadership, @DrMakaryFDA. pic.twitter.com/zymwjxl9cJ

— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) July 15, 2025

The affordability messaging lands after those same companies spent the inflation era pushing aggressive price increases. PepsiCo — parent of Frito-Lay brands like Doritos and Cheetos — said in 2023 it would stop raising prices after “multiple rounds of price hikes” the prior year, according to Reuters. Kraft Heinz similarly leaned on pricing, with the company planning additional increases for snacks and condiments in 2022 to offset rising costs, the outlet separately reported.

Now the industry is trying to pin the next bump on Kennedy-aligned regulation. Politico reported that companies and trade groups launched Americans for Ingredient Transparency in late October, warning that a “patchwork” of state rules would raise consumer costs.

Kennedy, for his part, has argued big brands are “loading food up with chemicals,” citing ingredient lists for fast-food fries and cereal at his confirmation hearing.