Health Affairs January 9, 2026
In the United States, we have never regulated food based on how it is processed. Instead, the agencies overseeing the food supply regulate based on ingredients and on marketing claims. Bioengineered foods, for example, are regulated according to the safety of their specific ingredients, not the method by which those ingredients are produced. This may change, however, as public attention turns to the category of ultraprocessed foods or UPFs—which according to some estimates make up approximately 70 percent of the US food supply and more than half the calories Americans consume.
Clear Momentum
There are at least three reasons why UPFs are currently at the forefront of the US discussion about diet and diet-related health effects.
First, the publication of...
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