by Marion Nestle
Dec
11
2025
Big Food launches campaign to counter concerns about ultra-processed foods
The Consumer Brands Association, formerly the Grocery Manufacturers of America (about as Big Ultra-Processed Food as you can get) has announced a transparency campaign ostensibly to promote the safety, affordability, and convenience of food products.
I learned about this from an e-mailed anouncement.
National Consumer Transparency Week…is the cornerstone of the Consumer Brands Association’s ongoing effort to support the CPG industry’s efforts to provide consumers thorough information while also emphasizing the safety, affordability and convenience of their products. The initiative also includes TV and digital advertising, backed up by SmartLabel, Facts up Front, Food Processing Facts and the Truth About Ingredients website.
What this is really about is pushback against the concept of ultra-processed foods, lest you should stop buying them.
The Food Processing Facts site says
Consumer confusion or misconceptions around processed food could lead to decreased diet quality, causing consumers to miss out on vital nutrients, an increased risk of food-borne illness, greater food waste, stigmatization of cultural or critical foods such as fortified grains, dietary supplements, plant-based proteins or infant formula, and exacerbate health disparities.
The Truth About Ingredients site distinguishes myth from fact.
Myth: Food processing is harmful.Fact: Food “processing” helps turn fresh farm goods into consumable food products. Standard processing methods include fermentation, dehydration, preservation, pasteurization and the use of preservatives to slow or stop the growth of certain pathogens. These steps help make foods more nutrient-dense, allowing them to remain affordable, safe and shelf-stable when they reach stores. Learn more about food processing here.
Comment: All true; nobody is concerned about processing. It’s ultra-processing that matters, and the Consumer Brands Association only mentions it in the context of proving it misleading. The concept of ultra-processing is an existential threat to the companies that make such products. The CBA’s all-out effort to discredit the concept is a tribute to how powerful it is. Consumers get the idea loud and clear. And are already cutting down on purchases.
