Under the leadership of the US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, and the US Department of Agriculture Secretary, Brooke L. Rollins, the US Food and Drug Administration and US Department of Agriculture are accelerating federal efforts to address the growing concerns around ultra-processed foods and the current epidemic of diet-related chronic disease that is plaguing America.
"Ultra-processed foods are driving our chronic disease epidemic," said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
"We must act boldly to eliminate the root causes of chronic illness and improve the health of our food supply. Defining ultra-processed foods with a clear, uniform standard will empower us even more to Make America Healthy Again."
Currently, there is no single authoritative definition for ultra-processed foods for the US food supply.
Creating a uniform federal definition will serve as a key deliverable on the heels of the recently published Make Our Children Healthy Again Assessment, which recognises that the overconsumption of ultra-processed foods is one of the driving factors of the childhood chronic disease crisis.
President Trump has made it a priority to improve health outcomes for American families and communities ... and this Request for Information is yet another step in seeking commonsense ways to foster improved and more informed consumer choice.
"A unified, widely understood definition for ultra-processed foods is long overdue and I look forward to continued partnership with Secretary Kennedy to Make America Healthy Again."
"As this process unfolds, I will make certain the great men and women of the agriculture value chain are part of the conversation,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins.
“I am delighted to lead this critical effort at the FDA,” said FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH.
“The threats posed to our health by foods often considered ultra-processed are clear and convincing, making it imperative that we work in lockstep with our federal partners to advance, for the first time, a uniform definition of ultra-processed foods.”
It is estimated that approximately 70% of packaged products in the US food supply are foods that are often considered to be ultra-processed, and that children get more than 60% of their calories from such foods.
Dozens of scientific studies have found links between the consumption of foods often considered ultra-processed with numerous adverse health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, obesity and neurological disorders.
Helping to address overconsumption of ultra-processed foods is a key element to Make America Healthy Again.
A uniform definition of ultra-processed foods will allow for consistency in research and policy to pave the way for addressing health concerns associated with the consumption of ultra-processed foods.
The RFI will be publicly available in the Federal Register on 24 July and seeks information on what factors and criteria should be included in a definition of ultra-processed foods.
Alongside developing a uniform definition, the FDA and National Institutes of Health are investing in high-quality research to help answer remaining questions about the health impacts of ultra-processed foods through its recently announced Nutrition Regulatory Science Program.