For the first time, a state government wants to show, right on the package, that a food isn’t ultra-processed.

It is important to note that this program is voluntary. A company that wants the seal pays an accredited certification agent who registered with the California Department of Public Health to review the product. The agent can’t certify anything that contains the additives listed in the state’s definition of ultra-processed food (think emulsifiers, stabilizers and thickeners, colors, flavor enhancers and non-nutritive sweeteners), or anything classified as an “ultraprocessed food of concern” or a “restricted school food.”

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