TRANSCRIPT:
It's long been a point of contention for schools and parents: what to feed children as they attend classes in American schools.
A report published in July in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found one in four school meals was of poor nutritional quality.
Some have placed the blame for this on ultraprocessed foods.
Reports published in the United States suggest that adults and children consume just over 60 per cent of their calories from these types of items - which researchers have often described as the types of products that contain industrially made ingredients that you won’t find in a home kitchen, and are typically full of sugar, salt and unhealthy fats.
University of California San Francisco nutrition expert Laura Schmidt says these foods can have all kinds of negative consequences.
"We know that ultra-processed foods lead to obesity, and obesity leads to all sorts of health outcomes like diabetes and heart disease. So the more that we can get kids off to a healthy start without eating ultra-processed foods, the better. And that's what this law is about to do."
California's governor, Gavin Newsom, has now taken aim at ultraprocessed foods.
He's signed a first-in-the-nation law that will phase out certain ultra-processed foods from school provided meals over the next decade.
"The Office of Health Care Affordability has a numeric target as well for healthy foods, and I don't think there's anything comparable anywhere in the country... California will be leading the nation."
The Governor says the clock is now ticking for vendors and school officials to start removing ultraprocessed menu options - but the legislation gives them plenty of time.
"It's a multi-year process that on July 1st of 2029 we will move forward with the first phase... So we're giving this a three-year window of opportunity."
Some critics say the ban is too broad and could unintentionally limit access to nutritious foods.
The California School Boards Association is also concerned about the cost for districts, because there is no extra money attached to the bill for implementation.
Laura Schmidt says an analysis by the Senate Appropriations Committee has suggested t he law could raise costs for school districts by an unknown amount, by potentially making them purchase more expensive options.
"We do have to think about how do we implement that in the school system. It's more expensive to get healthy fruits and vegetables into schools. Some schools lack the kinds of kitchen facilities that are needed in order to cut and chop vegetables and deliver a healthier product."
Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho doesn't accept that argument.
And he says students - and schools - are already paying a price for the current situation in other ways.
"Hungry kids can't learn well, and kids who are deprived from healthy, nutritious food lag behind other children."
The Superintendent says the Los Angeles Unified school district is already acting in accordance with what the bill will soon compel the rest of the state to do.
But there are a few - like the Morgan Hill Unified district in California's southern Santa Clara County - who are already on board.
It began an overhaul of its school nutrition program eight years ago under Michael Jochner, who worked as a chef before taking over as the region's director of student nutrition.
"At Morgan Hill you're not gonna find flavoured milks, you're not gonna find fruit juices, you will not find chicken nuggets, you won't find frozen burritos, and you're not gonna find pizzas wrapped in plastic... We are now scratch-cooking 70 to 75 per cent of every entree. We are sourcing a hundred per cent of all of our fruits and vegetables from local and organic farms that are roughly between 30 and 50 miles from Morgan Hill."
Mr Jochner says the school district fully supports the legislation.
"I think we can't do it fast enough. We're raising the future leaders and we should be feeding them things that are not harming them."
