It’s a little after 9:30 a.m. on a recent weekday, and combed-haired workers in the Alhambra Unified School District’s central production kitchen are packing the last of 350 handmade sushi rolls for the city’s three high schools.
Spicy tuna rolls, reminiscent of cooked fish mixed with sriracha and mayonnaise, are a popular lunch among students.
“It’s one of our signature items that you can never take away,” said Dwayne Dionne, Alhambra Unified culinary specialist.
Alhambra Unified has been selling sushi for about 25 years. At one point, the district switched from white rice to brown rice – a healthier whole grain. Yet it’s the kind of meal that will be scrutinized under a new state law: the Real Food, Healthy Kids Act.
Amanda Tejada loads a tray of chicken salad to store in the freezer in Alhambra Unified’s central production kitchen.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
The law, signed Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, provides a first-ever statutory definition of ultra-processed foods in the United States and will ban certain foods of “concern” in California schools starting in 2035.
Under the legislation, which is expected to trigger a major overhaul of school lunch meals, the state Department of Public Health will identify ultra-processed foods of “concern” and “restricted school foods” — another banned category — by 2028. A year later, schools are required to begin phasing them out.
“There’s a really great opportunity to help a ton of people in a pretty simple way,” said Rep. Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), the bill’s author. “I’m still learning all of this…I was going to the grocery store trying to do right by my kids, but I had no idea that we might be feeding them things that could be harmful.”
For years, scientific studies have shown that ultra-processed foods can cause significant health problems in children, increasing the risk of obesity and asthma. Ashley Gearhardt, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan, said children are particularly vulnerable to “high-risk” ultra-processed foods that provide “really unnatural levels of enriching ingredients like refined carbohydrates and added fats, and … they’re amped up with all those colorings, preservatives and flavor enhancers.”
Dwayne Dionne, Alhambra Unified culinary specialist, at the district’s central production kitchen.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
Such ingredients can trigger “compulsive, addictive (behavior) in children that we see so often with these kinds of products,” said Gearhardt, a food addiction expert who testified in favor of the bill.
The legislation will not ban all ultra-processed foods in schools, far from it.
Consider Alhambra Unified’s Spicy Sriracha Tuna Roll. Sriracha could be considered an ultra-processed food – in part due to the presence of xanthan gum, a thickening agent – but it should not be classified as an ultra-processed food under the definition of this category given by the new law. Sushi is therefore unlikely to be considered an ultra-processed food of “concern” or appear on the “restricted” list, experts said.
That would be good news for Patty Zaragoza, a food service worker at Alhambra Unified’s central kitchen. After wrapping the last of 350 sushi rolls, she said she never gets tired of them.
“Oh no, I love it!” she said.
The path to right
For Gabriel, who was first elected in 2018, the Real Food, Healthy Kids Act is the third food-related law he has spearheaded.
In 2023, Gabriel authored the California Food Safety Act, which bans several food additives, including red coloring No. 3, commonly found in soda, candy and cereal. A year later, the congressman authored the California School Food Safety Act, which attracted widespread attention because it banned Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and other products containing certain synthetic food colors from schools.
Gabriel said his long foray into food safety was an unexpected, but personal, turning point. He has three children in primary school. “A lot of the way I see the world is through the lens of a father,” he said.
A turning point: Gabriel learned that the harmful effects of certain synthetic food colors may be amplified in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
ADHD “is something I struggled with as a child,” he said, “and one of my sons is overcoming it.”
Since Gabriel began drafting food-related legislation, the rise of the controversial Make America Healthy Again movement has highlighted problems with dyes and other additives, as well as their possible links to a variety of health problems. But he said the new law came from “solid science,” adding: “We were doing a lot of this work before anyone had heard of MAHA. »
In a statement, Newsom said “California has never waited for Washington or anyone else to take the lead on children’s health.”
“We have been at the forefront for years in removing harmful additives and improving school nutrition,” he said. “This first-in-the-nation law builds on that work to ensure every California student has access to healthy, delicious meals that help them thrive.”
Carol Chan makes beef and bean chili in Alhambra Unified’s central production kitchen.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
Gabriel’s bill garnered strong bipartisan support. But groups, including the California Farm Bureau, opposed it. Christopher Reardon, the office’s vice president of policy advocacy, said in a statement that he “supports efforts to improve public health” but he has questions about how the law will be implemented.
The Farm Bureau, he said, “will continue to work with its agricultural coalition to advocate for science-based food classification standards and ensure legislation helps farmers adapt to changes.”
Inside the ban
So what will be banned?
It’s complicated.
First, to be considered ultra-processed, a food must contain one of several non-natural substances across eight categories, including emulsifiers, stabilizers, flavor enhancers and flavoring agents. Next, it must contain high amounts of saturated fat, sodium or added sugar, or contain some types of non-nutritive sweeteners.
There are several exclusions. For example, a food that would be considered ultra-processed solely due to the inclusion of salt or certain natural seasonings cannot be classified as such. And other products cannot be considered ultra-processed, including agricultural raw materials.
Gabriel said he worked with the food and beverage industries to exempt certain products that made sense, such as minimally processed prepared foods, which include canned fruits and vegetables. Discussions have been held, he said, with representatives of the dairy industry, the protein industry and some players who don’t even serve food in schools, such as alcohol manufacturers.
“For a lot of them, it was, ‘When you define ultra-processed foods, how do you do that?’ What impact will this have on our product? ” he said.
It is not yet clear which foods will be considered ultra-processed foods of “concern” or which will be classified as “restricted.” The state Department of Public Health will create these food lists by 2028, so schools can prepare for when the ban takes effect.
The department must weigh various factors, including whether the products carry a warning label in another jurisdiction about “adverse health consequences” and whether they contain a substance that, based on “reputable, peer-reviewed scientific evidence,” is linked to “health harm or adverse health consequences” such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.
“This is an investigation that should be undertaken by California state scientists, not legislators,” said Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs for the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, which testified in favor of the legislation.
Andrew Vasquez makes black bean and corn relish in Alhambra Unified’s central production kitchen.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
The law will impose liability on sellers, prohibiting them from selling the banned items to California school districts starting in 2032. But it’s not yet clear how districts will respond.
Los Angeles Unified, the state’s largest school lunch provider, declined to make its director of food services available for an interview.
William Fong, Alhambra Unified’s director of food and nutrition services, noted that his district already complies with U.S. Department of Agriculture standards for school food. Adhering to a new standard won’t be too difficult, he said, although changes are necessary.
“There’s always a way to replace…elements in a recipe,” Fong said. “And we have time.”
Gabriel believes vendors who supply food to school districts will follow the law because California is a lucrative market for them. It could be as simple as replacing one or two ingredients in a pepperoni pizza or corn dog.
And, he noted, about a billion meals will be served in California schools this year.
