RFK Jr., Power of Meat kick off AMC '26

If you didn’t already think meat was having a moment, the first day of the Annual Meat Conference would have convinced you beyond a doubt.

Anne-Marie Roerink’s annual Power of Meat presentation was as topical and as popular as ever.

What attendees of this year’s show, a co-production of FMI – The Food Industry Association and The Meat Institute, didn’t know, until about a day before the show started, was the identity of her opening act.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. kicked off AMC ’26 in a panel discussion with FMI’s president, Leslie Sarasin, and The Meat Institute’s president, Julie Anna Potts.

Kennedy’s attendance was well-timed, coming soon after the rollout of the federal government’s revamped food pyramid, which gives meats and other proteins top billing.

The secretary’s message could not have been clearer: America is in a health crisis, the solution is to change Americans’ diets, and those diets should have more meat in them.

No food packs the nutritional punch of meat, Kennedy said, and it’s a myth that saturated fats cause heart attacks and other health problems. And increasingly, meat is being shown to be good not only for physical but also mental health.

Adding more meat to Americans’ diets is especially critical, he said, to reverse the health welfare of the nation’s youth, 38% of whom are diabetic or prediabetic.

“Ultra-processed, highly refined foods are just poison for our kids,” Kennedy said. “We are doing the best we can to ensure that protein is available and affordable for every American family.”

Kennedy said HHS “would love to have the collaboration” of FMI and the Meat Institute to help spread the message and get more meat into Americans’ diets.

Americans continue to worry about high food prices, but the meat and poultry department is the “MVP of the grocery store,” Roerink said in her presentation.

Food prices remain a continued cause of concern for consumers. Wages, for example, have not kept up with 40% food cost inflation since 2019, Roerink said, citing Circana data. Ninety-two percent of consumers are concerned about today’s grocery prices.