What Senate Bill 5026 Would Do About Ultra-Processed Foods

# What the bill proposes Senate bill 5026, the Childhood Diabetes Reduction Act of 2026, introduced July 16, 2026 by Senator Bernie Sanders, would require warning labels on several categories of food. The categories named include sugar-sweetened foods and beverages, foods and beverages containing high-intensity sweeteners, foods high in nutrients of concern (added sugar, saturated fat, sodium), and ultra-processed foods (UPFs).

# How the bill defines ultra-processed foods The bill proposes a statutory definition that centers on the presence of industrial ingredients and processing agents. It lists types of industrial ingredients explicitly, including surface-active agents, stabilizers and thickeners, propellants, aerating agents and gases, color and coloring adjuncts, emulsifiers and emulsifier salts, flavoring agents and adjuvants, flavor enhancers, surface-finishing agents, high-intensity sweeteners, and other ingredients the Secretary determines appropriate.

# What the bill does and does not do The bill's labeling requirement is administrative: it does not, in its current text, limit sales, serving sizes, advertising beyond proposed restrictions to children, or distribution of UPFs. The label requirement creates a legal pathway to identify products as UPFs and make that classification public on packaging. Because the bill contains a specific statutory definition, that definition could be referenced or adapted in future legislation that imposes other restrictions.

# Legislative status and likely changes

# Why classification details matter for diets and substitutions Because the bill ties the UPF exclusion to the FDA's "healthy" regulatory definition, classification outcomes will vary by the food-group equivalent assigned to a product. That matters for people who rely on vegan or plant-based alternatives: whether a plant-based milk, meat alternative, or other substitute is categorized as an UPF under the bill depends on which FDA food-group category it falls into and whether it meets the numeric criteria in the FDA's "healthy" tests.

# How this fits with state-level actions

# Bottom line Senate bill 5026 would impose warning labels on foods the bill defines as ultra-processed, among other categories. The bill establishes a detailed statutory definition that emphasizes industrial ingredients and processing agents but excludes products that meet the FDA's "healthy" regulatory criteria and infant formula. The HELP Committee has approved the bill with substantial but not-yet-public revisions, so the final legal definition and scope may change as the bill moves forward.