CBS documentary deals with highly processed foods

On September 7, CBS News released a documentary on ultra-processed foods on its digital media and YouTube – “Ultra Processed: How Food Tech Consumed the American Diet” – which included footage and interviews from this year’s IFT FIRST event.

It’s a fairly balanced piece of reporting. While defending the food industry, the IFT (Institute of Food Technologists) noted that the documentary “highlights the confusion, cultural debate, scientific gaps and need for additional research in the ultra-processed food space, providing a broad perspective on a controversial and complicated topic.”

The video begins with the accusatory statement: “Highly processed foods – high in fat, starch, sugar and additives – now make up 73% of the U.S. food supply.” But it immediately follows with the statement: “Highly processed foods provide convenient and affordable food for American families on a budget.”

Seconds later: “But some of them are linked to rising disease rates… As food technology advances at a rapid pace, Americans are having to make choices that can put their health at risk.”

Interviewees include FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, Senator Bernie Sanders, Kevin Hall of the National Institutes of Health, Vijaya Surampudi of UCLA Health, Bill Aimutis of the North Carolina Food Innovation Lab, and Emily Broad Leib of the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic – as well as a mother of four and a high school student diagnosed with prediabetes due to poor diet.

CBS interviewer Adam Yamaguchi asks Califf, “How is it that some of the chemicals in our food have long been banned elsewhere?” The FDA commissioner explains, “America is a country that values ​​individual choice and access, and I think our laws reflect that national sentiment.”

Yamaguchi later notes that the FDA is working to update its food ingredient approval process, particularly the Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) system, which is closely examined in the report.

The documentary acknowledges the “growing chorus calling for more consumer protections.” And Yamaguchi notes from the IFT broadcast’s hall: “A reminder that what we consume today is as much a product of technology as real food.”

In its statement following the documentary’s broadcast, IFT noted: “The path to healthier food starts with multidisciplinary collaboration, including research and events like IFT FIRST, where the brightest minds in the food industry come together each year to tackle our biggest challenges like ultra-processed food. From scientists to policymakers, and from industry to consumers, IFT stands by anyone who wants to understand how processed food affects lives around the world.”

The documentary is 21 minutes long and definitely worth watching. Watch it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=r03hB_xk5xs or on cbsnews.com/reports and Paramount+.