Governor Newsom signs legislation creating non-UPF label, other health bills advancing California’s nation-leading healthcare strategy

The bills signed today build on California’s nation-leading health and nutrition programs and laws by:

✅ Making whole, healthier foods easier to find by creating a label for non-ultraprocessed foods (UPFs), empowering consumers with clear, front-of-package information and improved access to healthier options through strategic, in-store placement.

✅ Helping families make informed decisions about their health by requiring that chain restaurants offer one children’s meal meeting a minimum nutrition standard, menus indicate the drinks that contain more than the recommended daily intake of sugar, and requiring that manufacturers include the full list of ingredients used to make diapers.

✅ Keeping harmful substances out of kids’ hands by banning the sale of an over-the-counter diet pill or dietary supplement for weight loss or muscle building to anyone under 18 years of age. Nonprescribed, medically unapproved weight loss or muscle-building products can have dangerous side effects and are too often mislabeled or tainted with harmful products, like steroids, yet nearly 1 in 10 adolescents have used such products. In addition to the immediate risks, youth who use over-the-counter diet pills are six times more likely to be diagnosed with an eating disorder within three years than nonusers.

✅ Taking on Big Tobacco by requiring that tobacco retailers display lung cancer screening awareness signage, and banning single-use vapes and the advertising of vape products designed to look like products marketed to minors, like food or school supplies. This builds on California’s ban on flavored tobacco products, initially signed by the Governor in 2022, and reaffirmed by voters’ passage of Proposition 31.

✅ Supporting California’s nation-leading Farm to School program to fuel local agriculture and healthier kids by creating a program to find locally-based vendors to provide healthy foods to California public schools.

California is committed to helping families raise healthy kids by making healthy food easier to access, instilling healthy habits, and protecting them from harmful substances and practices.

“While Washington D.C. is paralyzed by inaction, Republicans and Democrats in California are joining forces to empower consumers to avoid harmful ultra-processed foods,” said Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino). “Like the USDA Organic label, this new seal will provide consumers with clear, trustworthy information and make it easier for them to locate healthier foods that are free from harmful additives. Parents shouldn’t need a Ph.D. in chemistry to understand what they’re feeding their kids. California began this movement three years ago by banning the most dangerous food additives, and with Governor Newsom’s continued leadership we are taking another big step forward today.”

Supporting whole, healthier foods

Today’s legislation builds on prior work to address UPFs and other foods and ingredients linked to serious health harms, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, metabolic disorders, reproductive harm, and other chronic conditions. Last year, the Governor signed the Healthy Foods, Healthy Kids Act (AB 1264, Gabriel), making California the first state to officially define UPFs and setting a timeline for phasing them out of schools. The certification program and label created through today’s legislation reflect the same commonsense, market-based approach that made the USDA Organic label a success: give manufacturers a voluntary standard, and let consumers do the rest.

Farm to School

For years, the Governor and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom have championed efforts to support children’s wellbeing, through California’s Master Plan for Kids’ Mental Health; the Move Your Body, Calm Your Mind initiative; and efforts to make healthy, locally grown foods available to California’s kids, in large part through the state’s Farm to School Program, which the Governor permanently funded through legislation signed earlier this year.

Since its launch, the Farm to School Program has helped drive lasting change in California’s school food system, connecting more than half of California’s public school students with local, nutritious school meals, while supporting farmers and local economies. The Farm to School program works in tandem with the state’s universal school meals program, which has served almost 3.5 billion free meals since 2021. Research has shown that students who participate in school meal programs are more likely to consume nutritious foods, less likely to experience nutrient deficiencies, and show improved attendance, better academic performance, fewer visits to the nurse’s office, and reductions in behavioral issues, anxiety, and depression. Through investments in hands-on education opportunities in school gardens, local farms, or culinary classes, Farm to School programs teach students early about healthy eating habits and environmental stewardship, setting them up for success and a healthier future.

The full list of bills the Governor signed is below:

AB 762 by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks) — Disposable, battery-embedded vapor inhalation device: prohibition and penalties.
AB 1731 by Assemblymember Lori Wilson (D-Suisan City) — Office of Farm to Fork: Healthy Food for California Public Institutions Program.
AB 1901 by Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) — Children’s diapers: intentionally added ingredients: disclosure. View signing message here.
AB 2030 by Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) — Dietary supplements for weight loss and over-the-counter diet pills.
AB 2244 by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) — Non-Ultraprocessed Certified food standard.
AB 2667 by Assemblymember Heather Hadwick (R-Alturas) — Vape products: household hazardous waste: advertising.
SB 869 by Senator Akilah Weber Pierson (D-San Diego) — Restaurant menus: added sugar warnings.
SB 977 by Senator Akilah Weber Pierson (D-San Diego) — Chain restaurants: children’s meals.
SB 1089 by Senator Laura Richardson (D-South Bay) — Preventive Treatment Health Care Act.
SB 1124 by Senator Bob Archuleta (D-Pico Rivera) — Public health.

For the full text of the bills, visit http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.

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