California to phase ultraprocessed food out of school meals

A new law will make California the first state to phase some ultraprocessed food out of school meals.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Wednesday that prohibits public schools from serving children what it describes as “ultraprocessed foods of concern” in breakfasts or lunches. The policy sets a 10-year deadline for the change to take place.

It defines such foods as those that pose the greatest risks to consumers based on scientific evidence of adverse health outcomes, and it directs the state Public Health Department to determine which particular products meet the definition by June 2028.

“There’s really a growing awareness, particularly among millennial parents like myself, about how what we feed our kids is not important just to their physical health, but also so deeply connected to their mental health and their emotional well-being,” state Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat who introduced the legislation, said in a phone interview. “We have a lot of parents like me in the Legislature, and it turns out that whether they’re Democrat or Republicans or conservative or progressive, parents want the same thing.”

The Legislature passed the bill in September, with bipartisan support.

“It’s a movement that should unite all of us, regardless of political stripes,” Newsom said at a signing ceremony at Belvedere Middle School in Los Angeles.

On average, children and adolescents in the United States consume nearly 62% of their calories from ultraprocessed foods — a term that often broadly refers to foods with few whole ingredients. High consumption of such foods has been linked to cancer, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, among other negative health outcomes.

There is no single standardized definition of ultraprocessed food, so California’s new law establishes its own: It considers foods and beverages “ultraprocessed” if they contain one or more additives (such as stabilizers, thickeners, colorings or nonnutritive sweeteners), plus high levels of saturated fat, sodium or added sugar.

The law creates a separate definition for “ultraprocessed food of concern,” and those products are the target of the new ban.

To determine which items fall into that category, the law directs the state health department to evaluate foods’ addictive potential, scientific evidence of their health risks and existing bans, restrictions or warning labels in other states or countries.

Schools are required to start phasing out these ultraprocessed foods by 2029 and to fully do so by 2035.

“We found that for those school districts that have already moved in this direction, not only does it not cost them more to serve kids real, healthy food, they were actually saving money,” Gabriel said.

He has spearheaded other legislation in recent years that led to California’s prohibiting the use of some artificial dyes in school meals and banning certain additives from foods sold in the state.

In January, Newsom issued an executive order calling on state agencies to crack down on ultraprocessed foods and artificial dyes.

The moves have come amid renewed interest from states and the federal government in making school meals more nutritious. Since he took office in February, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has encouraged legislation to limit ultraprocessed foods or artificial dyes in school meals.

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed a law in March banning seven artificial dyes from school meals, and he credited Kennedy for his influence. In August, with Kennedy in attendance, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law that prohibits school districts from providing free or reduced-price meals that contain certain additives.

But Gabriel said California’s efforts to improve school meals predate Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement.

“We’ve been doing this work in California to protect kids’ health since before anyone ever heard of them,” he said.

Newsom also described California as leading the charge at the signing ceremony on Wednesday.

“No one understood it when we started talking about Skittles. Somehow everyone got upset and offended,” he said. “Now everyone’s jumping over each other — Louisiana, all these conservative states — trying to get in on this, which is sort of interesting and I think wonderful at the same time.”