Overview: California has become the first state to ban ultra-processed foods in schools, in an effort to provide more nutritious and healthier foods. Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1264, which defines ultra-processed foods and requires the State Department of Public Health to adopt regulations to define “ultraprocessed foods of concern” and “restricted school foods.” The law will phase out these foods from school meals over the next decade. Ultra-processed foods are mass-produced with industrially processed ingredients that contain food colorings and flavor enhancers, and are linked to health harms and adverse health consequences.
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California becomes the first state to ban ultra-processed foods in schools, in an ongoing effort to bring in more nutritious and healthier foods in schools.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1264, authored by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), officially defining – ultra-processed foods and taking steps to phase out those foods from school meals over the next decade.
According to the bill, also known as the Real Food, Healthy Kids Act, the State Department of Public Health is required to adopt regulations to define “ultraprocessed foods of concern,” and “restricted school foods.,”this includes considering if ingredients used are linked to health harms or adverse health consequences, through scientific evidence.
Ultra-processed foods are typically defined as foods that are mass-produced with industrially processed ingredients that generally contain food colorings and flavor enhancers; essentially, ingredients not found in a kitchen.
Under the new law, California defines ultra-processed foods as any food or beverage that contains thickeners and flavor enhancers, high amounts of saturated fat, sodium, or added sugar, or a nonnutritive sweetener.
“Our public schools should not be serving students ultra-processed food products filled with chemical additives that can harm their physical and mental health and interfere with their ability to learn,” Gabriel (D-Encino) stated in a press release in June, when the bill passed the Assembly.
Data analysis by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that children and youth consume a higher percentage of calories from ultra-processed foods (about 62%) than adults age 19 and older (53%).
This law is another addition to legislation aimed at eliminating unhealthy additives to meals served in California schools. Newsom previously signed two other bills authored by Gabriel that bans four potentially harmful chemical food additives from products sold statewide, including red dye 3, and prohibits schools from serving and selling foods containing synthetic food dye additives associated with risks to health harms in children, including cancer.
“School meals shouldn’t come with a side of long-term health risks. By identifying and phasing out the most harmful ultra processed foods from California’s school food, AB 1264 will give our kids a healthier environment in which to learn. [Environmental Working Group] applauds Assemblymember Gabriel for once again making the health of California’s kids a top priority,” stated Bernadette Del Chiaro, senior vice president of California’s Environmental Working Group.
California has taken steps to eliminate ultra-processed foods and dyes in school meals, prior to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make American Healthy Again strategy which also identified ultra-processed foods as being harmful to children. Though no concrete guidance or plans were laid out in the strategy, nor has a definition been established, ultra-processed foods were identified as one of the four potential drivers behind the rise in childhood chronic disease.