{"id":27565,"date":"2026-11-02T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T14:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=27565"},"modified":"2026-10-12T13:32:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T17:32:02","slug":"new-california-law-creates-system-for-food-products-to-be-labeled-non-ultraprocessed-certified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2026\/11\/02\/new-california-law-creates-system-for-food-products-to-be-labeled-non-ultraprocessed-certified\/","title":{"rendered":"New California Law Creates System for Food Products to be Labeled \u201cNon-Ultraprocessed Certified\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

photo courtesy of the office of California Assembly Member Jesse Gabriel<\/p><\/div>\n

by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD<\/p>\n

On September 28, 2026 California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law that established the first state-supported labeling program identifying non-ultraprocessed foods. Products will not be required to be labeled; it is a voluntary program.<\/p>\n

Certification agents will be accredited by 2029 to certify food products as \u201cNon-Ultraprocessed Certified\u201d or \u201cnon-UPC Certified.\u201d The bill creates a fund to support the implementation of this program and to educate the public and food companies about the label requirements. Fees will be established for certification of food products (1).<\/p>\n

By law, a food product cannot<\/u> be certified as \u201cNon-Ultraprocessed Certified\u201d if it meets the state\u2019s criteria for ultraprocessed food (1). California considers a food product to be ultraprocessed if the food product contains surface-active agents, stabilizers and thickeners, propellants, artificial colors, emulsifiers, or artificial colors AND either high amounts of saturated fat, sodium, or added sugars OR a nonnutritive sweetener (2). High amounts of saturated fat, sodium, or added sugars are defined as 10% or more of calories from saturated fat, a ratio of sodium to calories of 1:1 or higher, 10% or more of calories from added sugars. Examples of nonnutritive sweeteners include sorbitol and stevia (2).<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see how this law is affected by any federal definition of ultraprocessed food. As of this writing, the federal government has not issued a definition. Also of interest is the extent to which companies will apply for this certification, the cost of certification, and public interest in purchasing foods labeled \u201cnon-UPF certified.\u201d<\/p>\n

References<\/em><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. AB 2244. Non-Ultraprocessed Certified food standard. https:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB2244<\/a>. 2026.<\/li>\n
  2. California Health and Safety Code. DIVISION 103. DISEASE PREVENTION AND HEALTH PROMOTION. PART 3. RISK REDUCTION. CHAPTER 2. Nutrition. ARTICLE 3. Eating for Health [104660 – 104667]. https:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=HSC&sectionNum=104661<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    To read more about UPF regulations see:<\/p>\n

    State Regulations Regarding Ultra-Processed Foods and Possible Effects on Vegan Diets<\/a><\/p>\n

    Ultra-Processed Foods in the Senate: What\u2019s Going On?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD On September 28, 2026 California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law that established the first state-supported labeling program identifying non-ultraprocessed foods. Products will not be required to be labeled; it is a voluntary program. Certification agents will be accredited by 2029 to certify food products as \u201cNon-Ultraprocessed Certified\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27565"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27567,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27565\/revisions\/27567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}