Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

My name is Scott Faber, testifying for the Environmental Working Group. I also teach food law at Georgetown University Law Center. Prior to joining EWG, I was the vice president for federal affairs for the Consumer Brands Association.

The scientific evidence shows overwhelmingly that ultraprocessed foods have been linked to serious health harms, including Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Processed foods are part of a healthy diet, and AB 1264 does not prohibit schools from offering processed foods on the tray or a la carte. Ultra-processed foods, or UPFs, are different from processed foods, because they combine industrial ingredients and additives in ways that make foods hyper-palatable.

These industrially engineered foods are not simply delicious.

These foods are literally irresistible because they:

change the signals that are sent to our brains in ways that trigger our brain’s reward system
increase the speed with which that reward is delivered, and
interfere with signals that tell us to stop eating.

Sadly, Americans are the world’s biggest consumers of UPFs.

More than half of the calories we consume are from UPFs, including 67% of the calories eaten by our children.

By directing state experts to identify the most harmful UPFs, AB 1264 will send the right signal to school food vendors, who will be charged with distinguishing between processed foods, ultra-processed foods, and the most harmful UPFs. Only the most harmful UPFs – the “worst of the worst” – will have to be phased out of our schools.

I look forward to working with you and with my former colleagues at CBA and IDFA, and with other food and farm industry leaders to craft legislation that follows the science and does what’s right for our kids.

www.ewg.org/news-insights/testimony/2025/07/ewg-testimony-california-senate-education-committee-ab-1264-ban