- California is beginning to phase out ultra-processed foods in school meals.
- Nearly 1 billion meals are served annually to kids in California public schools.
- Defined harmful ingredients will be phased out from school lunches over 10 years.
California is beginning to phase out what it deems the most problematic ultra-processed foods from its school breakfast and lunch menus. The law, signed this week by Gov. Gavin Newsom, is the first in the nation to ban such foods.
Per a news release from Newsom’s office, “The law is based on a simple, common-sense idea: Schools should not serve students products that can harm their health or interfere with their ability to learn.”
In a written statement, Newsom said that “California has never waited for Washington or anyone else to lead on kids’ health — we’ve been out front for years, removing harmful additives and improving school nutrition. This first-in-the-nation law builds on that work to make sure every California student has access to healthy, delicious meals that help them thrive.”
CalMatters, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization, reported that the state’s public schools serve close to 1 billion meals annually. And it said that California health officials will be tasked with choosing which ingredients, additives, dyes and other “forms of processing” will no longer be welcome in school cafeterias.
The bill’s sponsor, Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat from Encino, called it a “historic step toward protecting our children from harmful ultra-processed foods and chemical additives.”
What’s ultra-processed?
Per The Washington Post, “Ultra-processed foods encompass a broad category ranging from cookies, doughnuts and potato chips to hot dogs, white bread and frozen meals. Scientists say what these foods have in common is that they are typically formulations of industrial ingredients that are designed by manufacturers to achieve a certain ‘bliss point,’ which causes us to crave and overeat them. They also tend to be low in nutrients such as fiber, vitamins and minerals.”
The Make America Healthy Again report that was driven by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., used the term “ultra-processed food” more than three dozen times, according to CalMatters. It also calls on federal officials to define ultra-processed food.
California came up with its own definition, identifying “ingredients that characterize ultra-processed foods, including artificial flavors and colors, thickeners and emulsifiers, non-nutritive sweeteners and high levels of saturated fat, sodium or sugar. Often fast food, candy and premade meals include these ingredients,” per CalMatters.
Ultra-processed foods have been long criticized as being highly caloric while offering little nutritional value.
Critics of the bill say it could lead to banning processed foods like canned fruits and vegetables because they contain preservatives, while proponents say just ingredients deemed harmful will be excluded.
What studies say about ultra-processed food
Studies have been focusing on ultra-processed food for much of this decade and have found plenty wrong with them. Ultra-processed foods make up nearly three-fourths of the U.S. food supply.
An international study led by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health reported that the risk to longevity and health rises with consumption levels. The findings, published in BMJ, made clear that not all ultra-processed foods are equal and said that overall dietary quality had more to do with longevity than consumption of that class of foods alone, as Deseret News earlier reported.
Per the article, “The risk differed depending on the subgroups of ultra-processed foods, ‘with meat/poultry/seafood-based ready-to-eat products showing particularly strong associations with mortality,’ the researchers wrote. But the associations also extended to sugar and artificially sweetened beverages, white bread, dairy-based desserts and ultra-processed breakfast foods, per the study.”
A study in Nature Medicine found even ultra-processed food touted as being nutritious could make dieting hard; weight loss is better with less processed fare. Harvard Health noted that minimally processed foods are those whole foods that still contain their vitamins and nutrients. And they’re better for health, Harvard adds.
A study in the journal JAMA Neurology linked ultra-processed foods to cognitive decline. And a group of international researchers reported last year that there’s “convincing evidence” of direct links between eating a lot of ultra-processed food and “all-cause and heart-disease-related mortality, Type 2 diabetes, overweight and obesity, as well as anxiety and other common mental health challenges,” per a mega analysis covered by Deseret News that found dozens of health challenges.
As Deseret News also reported, food industry groups “are pushing back. They note that the processes involved allow food a longer shelf life, reducing food waste and lowering costs. The Institute of Food Technologists wrote in a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that stabilizers and other chemical additives ‘ensure food and nutrition security when fresh foods may not be available or accessible.’”
California’s other health-related steps
California has barred soda on school campuses for a long time and placed caffeine restrictions, too.
The ultra-processed food bill follows an executive order directing state agencies to recommend actions that will limit harms from ultra-processed foods and other food ingredients deemed risky to health.
Newsom also banned four “potentially harmful chemical food additives from products sold in California, including red dye No. 3, brominated vegetable oil — used as a stabilizer in citrus-flavored drinks — and barring schools from serving or selling foods with synthetic food dye additives that have been linked to health harms in children. The release said other states and the federal government have since taken similar steps.
Other efforts targeting children and healthy eating include increasing access to healthy, locally grown food, establishing an electronic benefits transfer program that provides eligible children $120 in food benefits, creation of a universal meals program that ensures all public school children have access to two free meals every school day regardless of family income and codified federal guidelines for school nutrition standards to reduce salt and sugar in school meals.