WASHINGTON – The Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture are seeking public input as they develop a definition for ultra-processed foods, or UPF.
The following is a statement from Scott Faber, the Environmental Working Group’s senior vice president for government affairs:
EWG welcomes any effort to address the health harms posed by ultra-processed foods. While many processed foods can be part of a healthy diet, ultra-processed foods are different from processed foods, because they combine industrial ingredients and additives in ways that make our food hyperpalatable.
These industrially engineered foods are not simply delicious; they are literally irresistible, because they change the signals sent to our brain’s reward center, increase the speed with which that reward is delivered and interfere with the signals that tell us to stop eating.
UPF are not merely high in fat, sugar and salt. They are also processed and combined with chemicals in ways that make them unlike the foods our parents and grandparents enjoyed.
At a time when the cost of diet-related disease continues to grow, we welcome any effort to help consumers identify and avoid UPF and build healthier diets, including state efforts like California’s groundbreaking legislation to define UPF and California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent executive order directing state scientists and top researchers to develop new policy proposals.
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The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.
