\u201cParents shouldn\u2019t need a Ph.D. in chemistry to understand what they\u2019re feeding their kids,\u201d said Gabriel, who introduced bill AB 2224. The Democratic politician is also the architect behind California\u2019s landmark legislation against certain food dyes<\/a> and additives<\/a> and last year\u2019s bill targeting ultra-processed foods<\/a> in schools, which was signed into law in the fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n What constitutes an ultra-processed food<\/a> is the subject of much debate. This bill uses the same definition as last year\u2019s California school law: Foods are ultra-processed if they contain both certain additives like emulsifiers, flavors, and preservatives and are also high in sugar, salt, and fat, or contain non-nutritive sweeteners.\u00a0<\/p>\n About a third of packaged foods would be considered not ultra-processed under that definition, Alyssa Moran, a nutrition policy researcher and epidemiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, said on the call. She said that the new certification would also make it easier for school food service providers to identify items that are not ultra-processed.<\/p>\n \u201cUltra-processed foods clearly increase chronic disease risk, and while we debate about whether the science is good enough, ultra-processed foods are killing roughly 1,400 Americans each day,\u201d Moran said.<\/p>\n The Consumer Brands Association, the largest trade group for food manufacturers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n \t\t\t \t\t\t\t Gabriel compared the plan to the certified organic label from the United States Department of Agriculture, and noted that California\u2019s regulation of organic products decades ago laid the groundwork for federal action. \u201cWe would love to see Washington follow our lead,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cBut until then, there\u2019s no reason companies couldn\u2019t use the California seal in grocery stores outside of California.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The bill also requires large grocery store chains to display foods carrying the California seal prominently once they meet a threshold for the number of products sold with that designation. Items like yogurt, bread, snacks, baby food, and cereals could all potentially qualify for the seals.<\/p>\n Gabriel said he hopes to have the bill on Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s desk by August or September.<\/p>\n Texas, meanwhile, passed a labeling law taking aim at ultra-processed foods<\/a> last year \u2014 in that case, a warning label that manufacturers would have been required to put on foods that contained any of 44 additives. A federal judge temporarily blocked<\/a> the law last month, saying it probably violates the First Amendment.<\/p>\n Other countries like Mexico have adopted front-of-package food labels<\/a> warning consumers about excess amounts of calories and sugar. \u201cWe thought that maybe there would be a better way \u2026 by acknowledging folks who are doing the right thing, and who are creating products that are healthy,\u201d Gabriel said.<\/p>\n STAT\u2019s coverage of chronic health issues is supported by a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies<\/a>. Our financial supporters<\/a> are not involved in any decisions about our journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new California bill continues the state\u2019s efforts to crack down on ultra-processed foods, proposing a front-of-package seal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,106716,106717,47267,14464],"class_list":["post-236261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-cardiovascular-disease","tag-chronic-diseases","tag-nutrition","tag-obesity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CA-CertifiedLogo-1024x1024.jpg\")
<\/a>**HANDOUT**SINGLE USE**Courtesy Jesse Gabriel<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AP26008617830890-768x432.jpg\")
\t\t<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/wp-content\/themes\/stat\/images\/home\/statplus.svg\")
\n\t\t\t\tSTAT Plus: Kennedy says he\u2019ll act on legal challenge to ultra-processed foods<\/a><\/p>\n