Has the FDA defined ultra-processed food?
On this page
Not yet. The FDA and USDA asked the public for data to help write a definition in July 2025, and on August 10, 2026, HHS said the first proposed definition had gone for final review at the White House. As of November 15, 2026, its text hasn’t been published, and nothing is in the Federal Register. Researchers, including the CDC, use NOVA.
People assume there must be an official line, since the term is in the news every week and the new US dietary guidelines tell people to avoid highly processed food. There isn’t one. The guidelines say to avoid “highly processed” food without defining it, and no federal rule says what ultra-processed means.
We wouldn’t wait for one. The CDC used NOVA’s test for the US numbers, and it fits on the back of a box: is there at least one ingredient a home kitchen doesn’t keep? That’s enough to pick between two loaves of bread this week.
What the government has done so far
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| July 25, 2025 | FDA and USDA published a request for information to “help develop a uniform definition of ultra-processed foods” |
| September 19, 2025 | They extended the comment period |
| October 23, 2025 | Comments closed |
| August 10, 2026 | HHS said it had “submitted for final review the federal government’s first proposed definition of ultra-processed foods”, without saying what it was |
| October 13, 2026 | A law firm that tracks food rules reported the agencies call it a “white paper”, a research tool rather than a regulation, and that its text still wasn’t out |
| November 15, 2026 | The Federal Register’s search for “ultra-processed” finds no definition. The newest hit is a May 2026 rule on what SNAP retailers have to stock |
The agencies wrote that a uniform definition “would allow for consistency in research and policy”. Until one exists, studies and surveys keep using NOVA, which is why this site does too.
What the 2025 to 2030 guidelines say
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025 to 2030, tell people to “avoid highly processed packaged, prepared, ready-to-eat, or other foods that are salty or sweet, such as chips, cookies, and candy” (page 4). They say to limit foods with “artificial flavors, petroleum-based dyes, artificial preservatives, and low-calorie non-nutritive sweeteners”, and to significantly cut highly processed refined carbohydrates like white bread and packaged breakfast options (page 3).
They don’t define “highly processed”, and they set no share of your calories to stay under. More on that in how much is too much.
How NOVA defines it
NOVA comes from Carlos Monteiro’s team at the University of São Paulo. A food is ultra-processed when its label lists at least one substance kitchens rarely use (like high-fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin, hydrogenated oil or whey protein) or a cosmetic additive (a flavor, color, emulsifier, sweetener or thickener). The full version is in what makes a food ultra-processed.
What we’d do
- Use the label test now. Paste an ingredient list into the label checker.
- Follow the guidelines’ two lines while there’s no definition: avoid the salty and sweet packaged food, and limit artificial flavors, dyes and sweeteners.
- See the whole timeline. What changed in 2025 and 2026 has California’s school meals law, the Texas label fight and the new guidelines, with dates.
7 sources
- FDA and USDA, Ultra-Processed Foods; Request for Information, Federal Register, July 25, 2025federalregister.gov
- FDA and USDA, Ultra-Processed Foods; Request for Information; Extension of Comment Period, Federal Register, September 19, 2025federalregister.gov
- Federal Register, documents mentioning ultra-processed, searched November 15, 2026federalregister.gov
- CNBC, HHS moves to tighten oversight of food ingredients as safety concerns mount, August 10, 2026cnbc.com
- Greenberg Traurig, More than research? Why the coming federal definition of ultra-processed foods matters, October 13, 2026gtlaw.com
- US Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025 to 2030cdn.realfood.gov
- Monteiro et al., Ultra-processed foods: what they are and how to identify them, Public Health Nutrition, 2019pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
