Customer Nina Culliver, 32, uses paper bags to load her grocery purchases at Raley’s in Sacramento in Dec. 2025. A bill proposed recently by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, D-Encino, would allow food manufacturers to get a “California Certified” sticker on certain healthier foods.
PAUL KITAGAKI JR.
pkitagaki@sacbee.com
Artificial flavors, preservatives and anti-caking agents hate to see him coming.
Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, D-Encino, has made headlines in the past few years for authoring bills that have cracked down on sweets with synthetic dyes like Skittles and instituted a timeline for getting healthier food in public schools.
His latest aim is to create a new classification for healthy foods: “California Certified.”
Gabriel’s bill, AB 2244, would allow food manufacturers to apply to get the California Certified sticker on their product, much like they do with the USDA Organic label, which has been around since 2002. Products would be approved, beginning in 2028, if they don’t meet the definition of ‘ultra-processed,’ defined by having a specified substance and being high in either fat, salt, sugar or having a non-nutritive sugar.
“Ingredient lists are often long, they’re technical, they’re incomplete, and they leave ordinary folks like me without clear, accessible tools to distinguish between minimally processed and highly processed foods,” Gabriel said during a news conference Wednesday.
A release issued by his office pointed to research showing links between ultra-processed foods and cancer, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, metabolic disorders, reproductive harm and other chronic conditions.
“I know a lot of people will say, ‘Well, shop on the outside aisles,’ but not everybody’s there yet,” said former television host Maria Menounos, who is lending her support to the effort. “Until they get to that place, there are going to be things in the middle they’re going to want.”
Melanie Benesh from the Environmental Working Group, which has worked closely with Gabriel throughout the years on his legislation, said if the bill were to be passed, shoppers could see the seals on breads, yogurts, snacks and cereals.
According to the bill, the State Department of Public Health would need to accredit certification agents that could determine which products qualify as “California Certified.” The bill has yet to be assigned a cost estimate and is expected to be heard in the next few months by the Assembly Health Committee.
Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, D-Encino, shared the image of a possible sticker manufacturers could apply to have added to their products.
The Sacramento Bee
Kate Wolffe covers the California Legislature for The Sacramento Bee. Previously, she reported on health care for Capital Public Radio in Sacramento and daily news for KQED-FM in San Francisco. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley.