CFA Asks USDA to Track Ultra-Processed Food Creep Reducing Availability of “Real Food”

Consumer Federation of America wrote to Secretary Brooke Rollins today to alert the USDA leader to CFA's finding suggesting "ultra-processed food creep" among many products, like heavy cream and tortillas, that once contained relatively simple ingredients. The letter argues that restoring the Department's "Branded Foods" database represents an easy way to help consumers "eat real food." As the food industry has quietly reformulated many foods with emulsifiers, gums, stabilizers, and other additives characteristic of ultra-processed foods, food retailers have developed "security" tools to prevent "scrapes" or online data collection by researchers seeking to measure the aggregate impact of these changes on the food supply. The retailers continue to allow scrapes by third-party platforms such as Instacart. The letter urges USDA to access food retailers' online data, invoking the agency's existing legal authority, if necessary, and to share comprehensive, up-to-date information about product reformulations on its website.