HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. says that FDA’s much-anticipated definition for ultra processed foods is awaiting White House approval and should be out soon – at which point he wants to overhaul front-of-pack nutrition labeling to help consumers more easily identify and avoid UPFs.
“In the next few months, we are going to publish a definition of ultra-processed food,” Kennedy said last week at the International Fresh Produce Association’s annual meeting.
He explained in a fireside chat with IFPA CEO Cathy Burns that “one of the problems with regulating ultra-processed food is there is no definition, and as a result of it, you can’t regulate it.”
But, he added, “we’ve developed a definition for it. It is sitting at OMB [Office of Management and Budget] right now.”
As of June 15, the only mention of ultra-processed foods on reginfo.gov’s dashboard for the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs was FDA’s request for information posted last July, which triggered more than 5,000 comments.
Nonetheless, Kennedy said, “We anticipate that we’re going to be able to do a final publication over the next couple of months.”
At which point, FDA could use the definition to overhaul a multi-year effort to standardize a front-of-pack Nutrition Info box proposed under the Biden Administration which would quantify and qualify the percent daily value of select nutrients of concern. The goal of the label change is to help consumers more easily make informed dietary choices, incentivize food companies to make healthier products and ultimately reduce diet-related chronic diseases.
However, the current administration has eschewed the proposed rule, which includes a streamlined black and white box with simple “low,” “medium,” or “high” text warnings for saturated fat, sodium and added sugar.
Kennedy said the current administration favors “red light, green light, yellow light” labeling model.
“It is going to make a lot of shopping easier for Americans, because people don’t want to read the entire label and figure out what is good for them and what isn’t. So, we are going to make that recommendation,” he told Burns.
If the administration moves forward with this plan it would dismiss years of multi-stakeholder research, including a detailed literature review, two focus group tests and a peer-reviewed experimental study that found a simple black and white box with the daily value and a descriptor of ‘low,’ ‘medium’ or ‘high’ as the easiest for consumers to quickly understand.
Current front-of-pack proposal under threat
If the Trump administration moves forward with a traffic-light style labeling scheme, which is used in some other countries, it could mean scrapping the current proposed rule and issuing a new proposed rule, warned Sarah Sorscher, director regulatory affairs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
CSPI first petitioned FDA in 2006 to use existing authority to require a front-of-package nutrition disclosure, but the food industry was “really successful in deflecting that effort by designing the Facts Up Front system,” which is voluntary and includes additional information beyond nutrients of concern, explained Sorscher.
“Shortcomings of this system is what led us in 2022 to petition FDA to request mandatory front-of-package [labeling],” which ultimately resulted in the 2025 proposed rule, she added.
The agency’s proposal last summer caused quick consternation among industry stakeholders, many of whom argued the proposed rule was overly simplistic and opaque, while public health officials said it did not go far enough.
“If FDA goes too far beyond what it proposed in 2025, it will have to repropose and get public comment, so all of us will have a chance to weigh in again if that does happen,” Sorscher said.
It also would substantially extend any compliance deadline as gathering and analyzing comments takes time – potentially longer than this administration has left in office.
