People Love to Blame “Ultra-Processed Food.” It’s Unhelpful.

“Parents shouldn’t need a Ph.D. in chemistry to understand what they’re feeding their kids,” California Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel declared last month, announcing a new food-labeling bill. Over the past few years, Gabriel has emerged as a vocal and effective legislative proponent of healthier eating, sponsoring state legislation in 2025 that defined the famously slippery term “ultra-processing” and that removed food dyes and some “ultra-processed” foods from school lunches. This new bill, AB22...