Non-GMO Project launches Non-Ultraprocessed foods verification

After two decades of market leadership, leading certifier charts a bold course for food integrity

The Non-GMO Project recently introduced Non-UPF Verified, developed under the newly established Food Integrity Collective. This initiative expands beyond GMO avoidance to address an urgent public health crisis: the pervasive dominance of ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) in our global food supply, which now accounts for more than 50 percent of calories consumed in Western countries.

“The Standard American Diet has become one of the leading risk factors for death worldwide, yet navigating today’s food landscape can feel like an impossible task,” says Megan Westgate, CEO of the Non-GMO Project and the Food Integrity Collective. “This isn’t by accident. When tobacco companies acquired major food manufacturers in the 1980s, they deliberately applied their expertise in addiction science to food engineering. The result was a new generation of ultraprocessed foods designed with the same precision as cigarettes to trigger cravings and override our body’s natural satiety signals.”

Recent research reveals the devastating scope of UPF impact on human health, from depression, disrupted sleep patterns, and hormonal imbalances to increased risks of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and cancer. Even more troubling, these effects are particularly severe in children and adolescents, whose developing brains are especially vulnerable to nutritional insults.

According to the Non-GMO Project’s 2024 research with Linkage, 85 percent of shoppers want to avoid UPFs, but they may feel overwhelmed and unsupported in this goal. “Even the most informed consumers struggle to identify ultraprocessed foods consistently,” notes Westgate. “When we began addressing GMOs in 2007, we recognized that genetic engineering was just one way industrial food production was distancing us from natural ingredients. Today’s ultraprocessed foods represent an even deeper departure—taking familiar ingredients and transforming them so fundamentally that our bodies no longer recognize them as food.”

The new certification will complement the Butterfly Non-GMO Project seal, helping consumers choose foods that promote human and environmental health. Like the Non-GMO Project Verified program, Non-UPF Verified will set clear standards and encourage food manufacturers to offer more minimally processed options.

Organic & Non-GMO Insights February 2025