Targeting Ultra-Processed Foods: The Non-UPF Verified Seal and its Bold New Standards.

The Non-GMO Project is targeting hyper-processed foods through a new certification that emphasizes transparency and clarity for consumers. Find out why and how – and what it could mean for natural brands.

Back in the 1970s and early 1980s, when salty snacks were nothing more than popcorn, pretzels, and potato chips. Sweets? Candy, of course. But the real treats came from bakeries. We didn't need a seal to tell us which foods in the supermarket were free of ultra-processing. There weren't many of them.

But now, the Non-GMO Project is piloting a new Non-UPF Verified seal. If all goes according to plan, the seal will launch early next year. Brands carrying this seal have undergone verification by the organization and can display their UPF-free qualities.

Organic, Fair Trade Certified, Certified Gluten-Free, Rainforest Alliance Certified... More than 60 certifications and seals can adorn consumer packaged goods in the United States today.

Do we really need another one? Another label? Why might this one be important?

In my opinion, yes. Too much of what is now sold to us is highly processed and full of a wild array of ingredients that no one would find on a supermarket shelf on their own.

And some of these processed foods are bad for us. Dangerously so. Bordering on toxic – not in a way that knocks people off their feet and into the emergency room. More like a slow, dripping poison.

Just last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced its intention to phase out synthetic food dyes from the national food supply; these dyes count as ultra-processed substances.

"We are eating processed edible substances, not food," says Megan Westgate, founder of the Non-GMO Project and the driving force behind the Non-UPF Verified effort. "Food should nourish life. Most of it doesn't."

Currently, Westgate and her team at the Non-GMO Project are working to create the framework that will guide the seal's launch. The first step is defining ultra-processed foods.

The framework is simple. Ultra-processed foods are made in factories. If a car factory relies on tires, brakes, windshield glass, steel, and many other things to make pick-up trucks, factories producing ultra-processed foods rely on a wide array of refined ingredients and additives that don't look like food on their own. These components include things you probably don't have in your pantry, including ingredients like gums, emulsifiers, preservatives, colorings, and more.

To start, the Non-UPF Verified team is identifying ingredients that will disqualify brands from achieving the seal, such as these colorings. They are looking to ingredients already banned in Europe, California, and other states and municipalities as an easy starting point, even using banned ingredient lists from Whole Foods Market and other retailers to inform decisions.

"When people learn that an ingredient banned in the EU is unlabeled in their kid's granola bar, they react," says Westgate. "That's what happened with GMOs. It's happening again now."

But creating a standard that, according to Westgate, must "strike a balance between meaningfulness and achievability," involves more than just banning ingredients.

Hyper-palatability, industry reform, and the fight for real food

In short, scientists process food to elicit addictive eating behaviors, often revolving around the basics like fat, salt, sugar, and texture. Furthermore, various manufacturing processes can confuse satiety signals, leading to overeating.

"Hyper-palatable foods override the body's natural signals. They are designed to. And they have become normal," says Westgate. "But what we accept as normal is actually a slow erosion of vitality."

A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that the Non-UPF seal movement is onto something. Research links ultra-processed foods to a wide range of chronic conditions – obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression, cancer.

In one controlled clinical trial, scientists fed participants two different diets with identical calorie, fat, protein, and carbohydrate quotas – one of whole, unprocessed foods, the other full of ultra-processed options. People on the ultra-processed diet ate about 500 more calories per day.

Snacking on ultra-processed foods has proven to be the dietary equivalent of doom scrolling: all allure, no nourishment. And a lot of unchecked, compulsive behavior.

Westgate and the Non-GMO Project are not alone in sounding the alarm about UPFs. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly criticized UPFs, calling them poison and advocating for their ban from school lunch programs. He is also a driving force behind the recent FDA announcement regarding synthetic dyes.

Consumers are also concerned. Research from the Non-GMO Project has shown that 85% of shoppers are trying to avoid ultra-processed foods. The problem is that without deep research into every yogurt or box of crackers, it is extremely challenging to rid their diets of UPFs.

The reliance of some products on UPFs may be obvious – but it's not so clear with many products.

The new seal is not seeking to ban ingredients or CPGs. Instead, as the Non-GMO Project did, it is focused on transparency. And with clarity for consumers, Westgate says, the food industry as a whole can take steps away from ultra-processing.