Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
My name is Scott Faber, testifying for the Environmental Working Group. I also teach Food Law at Georgetown University Law Center. Prior to joining EWG, I was the Vice President for Federal Affairs for the Consumer Brands Association.
The overwhelming scientific evidence shows that ultraprocessed foods have been linked to serious health harms. Processed foods are part of a healthy diet, but ultraprocessed foods, or UPF, are different from processed foods because they combine industrial ingredients and additives in ways that make food not just delicious but irresistible.
AB 1264 does not ban UPF. It simply defines them, and makes clear that foods that are raw agricultural products, unprocessed local foods, minimally processed foods like canned beans and vegetables, and pasteurized milk are not UPF.
AB 1264 also makes clear that a food cannot be a UPF solely because salt, spices, natural seasonings, or natural colors have been added.
Defining UPF is only the first step.
CDPH must then work with CDE, CDFA and industry stakeholders to identify “UPF of concern” and must consider whether the food is linked to serious health harms, as well as whether the food has been identified as “healthy” by the FDA.
By directing state experts to identify UPF of concern, AB 1264 will send the right signal to school food vendors, who will be charged with distinguishing between processed foods, ultra-processed foods and UPF of concern. Only UPF of concern will have to be phased out of our schools, and vendors will have until 2032 to comply.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
