More than 300 products across 23 brands have now been verified as non-ultraprocessed under the Non-GMO Project's Non-UPF Verified label, a major expansion in the nine months since the seal's launch.
"When we launched Non-UPF Verified earlier this year, we knew people were asking deeper questions about how their food is made," Megan Westgate, CEO of the Non-GMO Project, said in a statement. "Seeing more than 300 products achieve verification in a matter of months shows that brands are ready to meet that demand with greater transparency."
Verified products now encompass 15 food and beverage categories with products from brands such as Simple Mills, Chomps and Blue Diamond almonds. An additional 41 brands are currently seeking verification, according to a release.
As demand for the label grows, the initiative is launching an app for shoppers to scan barcodes on packaged foods and see whether a brand is Non-UPF Verified. If a product is not verified, consumers can request certification and create a "direct signal of consumer demand that can be shared with food makers," according to a release.
More than 60% of surveyed consumers believed that ultraprocessed foods are addictive and a major cause of chronic health diseases such as obesity, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, according to research from Cornell University. But while 58% of Americans have heard of ultraprocessed foods, only around one-third are confident they could explain what they are.
Labels such as the Non-UPF Verified standard are aiming to fill that information gap by providing consumers with a quick and easy way to differentiate between products. Other third-parties have also rolled out their own verification systems, while California is poised to enact the nation's first statewide non-ultraprocessed label.
The Non-UPF Verified label examines products based on how much they are processed and whether they contain certain additives or surpass limits on refined added sugar. Non-UPF Verified said that its label "goes further" than California's proposed program by focusing on the level of processing rather than the ingredients and nutritional profile.
"We welcome the growing conversation about food processing and the opportunity to bring more transparency to how food is made," Westgate said. "There is real value in policymakers, researchers, food makers and certifiers bringing their different perspectives to this work. For us, processing itself needs to be part of the conversation."
Brands with Non-UPF Verified certification include the following: Amy’s Kitchen, Big Tree Farms, BjornQorn, Blue Diamond, Brothers-All-Natural, Chomps, Frontier Soups, Go Raw, Heray Spice, Lovevery, Maskal Teff, next level, NoWhere Foods, Odds & Ends, Olyra Foods, Roots Farm Fresh, Simple Mills, Simply Sunflower, SOFRESCO, Spindrift, Sunday Night and The Yes Bar.
One additional participating brand has asked to not be identified publicly, Non-UPF Verified said in an email to Food Dive.
