Americans now get a large share of their calories from packaged and industrially formulated foods, making processing standards a growing issue in national nutrition policy. On August 10, 2026, federal officials said they had completed the U.S. government’s first definition of “ultra-processed food” and submitted it to the White House for final review. The proposed wording has not been made public, leaving food companies, health researchers and consumers waiting for details on how broad the standard may be.
Federal officials took the step, but not the public release
The Food and Drug Administration said it has completed work on the federal government’s first-ever definition of ultra-processed food and sent it to the White House for further review, according to reporting from the Associated Press published on August 10. Axios separately reported that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said HHS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture submitted the definition for final review, also without releasing the text.
That action follows a process the FDA and USDA began on July 24, 2025, when the agencies issued a joint Request for Information seeking public input on what factors and criteria should be used in a uniform federal definition. The FDA says a shared definition would allow federal agencies and other organizations to build more consistent policies and programs around foods commonly described as ultra-processed.
The agency has also framed the work as part of a broader nutrition agenda. In its 2026 Human Foods Program priorities, the FDA said it would continue gathering information, research and public comments to develop a federal government definition of ultra-processed foods, while also advancing related nutrition and food-chemical initiatives.
The national impact is clearer than any local one so far
This is a national policy development, not a state-by-state enforcement action, and federal officials have not identified any specific states, cities, school districts or food categories that would be immediately affected. The government also has not released a list of products, brands or restaurant items that would fall under the proposed definition, so there is no confirmed local inventory for consumers or retailers to review.
What is confirmed is the scale of the issue federal agencies are trying to address. The FDA says an estimated 70% of the U.S. food supply is made up of foods commonly considered ultra-processed, and it cites research showing that children get more than 60% of their calories from those foods. Axios reported that officials described ultra-processed foods as accounting for almost 60% of Americans’ overall diet.
Because the actual language remains under White House review, it is not yet known whether the final definition will rely on ingredients, manufacturing methods, additives, nutrition thresholds or some combination of those factors. It is also not yet known whether the standard would be used first for research, dietary guidance, front-of-pack labeling, procurement rules or future regulatory action.
The push comes from nutrition policy, chronic disease concerns and a long-running debate
Federal agencies have tied the effort to chronic disease prevention. The FDA says researchers have found links between consumption of ultra-processed foods and negative health outcomes including cardiovascular disease, obesity and certain cancers, and it has described the issue as part of a wider epidemic of preventable diet-related disease in the United States.
Officials have also acknowledged that defining the term is difficult. The Associated Press noted that scientists have worked for more than a decade to classify processed foods, but broad definitions can sweep in foods such as whole-grain bread, yogurt and granola that may still be considered nutritious. That tension is one reason a government-backed definition could matter well beyond semantics.
For shoppers, the immediate effect is limited because no new label, warning or restriction has been announced. But a formal definition could become the basis for future federal research, public guidance and possibly labeling or purchasing standards, according to the Associated Press. For now, the most concrete next step is procedural: the definition has been sent to the White House, and the government has not said when the text will be released or finalized.