What Counts as Ultra-processed Food?

Calley Means describes the proposed ultra-processed-food definition as covering a color additive, a non-nutritive sweetener or one of the factory-derived chemicals on an FDA list. He is recounting a definition the administration had agreed to release, not supplying a universally accepted classification or a finalized regulatory rule.

He says academics and medical organizations with differing political views were willing to support the initiative, and emphasizes that the definition itself was not tied to regulation. In his account, a Mondelez lobbyist objected that it would hurt business and threatened to contact White House officials. Means says the release was repeatedly delayed despite agreement inside the government. The lobbying account is his allegation; the passage does not establish an exact final release date or prove that the delay lasted until his departure.