Expanded mission of the Non-GMO Project engages large and small companies on new non-ultraprocessed food label
Megan Westgate
Non-UPF Verified
Bellingham, WA, April 02, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Non-GMO Project, North America’s leading nonprofit organization for food transparency and labeling, has garnered interest from brand-name food companies from across the grocery store with its new Non-UPF Verified certification. During a recent webinar “Introducing Non-UPF Verified: The next step toward a food system that nourishes life,” the organization provided food companies, retailers, distributors and industry partners with insights into how the Non-UPF Verified label will address the growing consumer need — and nascent demand — for minimally processed foods.
Why now is the time for Non-UPF Verified
Founder and CEO Megan Westgate shared comprehensive framing and intention about the new certification program. Without eating well, she pointed out, humans cannot function well, and this has broad consequences for sustainability. “Humans have an outsized impact on life on earth, and we’re increasingly not functioning well,” she said. “Restoring human wellbeing and cognitive function is imperative for the wellbeing of all life. I believe that food is the single most significant intervention for recovering baseline capacities for human functioning so that we can live consciously and responsibly.”
Westgate outlined how the new Non-UPF certification fits within its Food Integrity Collective 8-petal framework, which encompasses minimal processing, non-GMO practices, regenerative sourcing, healthy human communities, animal wellbeing, mindful packaging, nutrient density, and living water and watersheds.
The nonprofit organization identified an especially critical gap in accountability for minimal processing and additives — yet to be addressed in the industry. The new Non-UPF Verified label aims to fill this gap by providing eaters with a label to help them avoid UPFs in the same way that they can avoid GMOs today.
Both the market demand and health concerns back up the shift towards minimally processed foods. Today 91% of all adults in the US and Canada want products to have all recognizable ingredients, Westgate shared. (Linkage Market Research, 2024). She also noted consistent findings from the British Medical Journal show UPF consumption is linked to 32 adverse health conditions.
The buzz from food brands
Household brand names to startups have expressed enthusiasm for the new Non-UPF Verified label. Hundreds of brands – representing many more products – attended the recent webinar or have signed up for the Non-UPF Verified waitlist. About 20 food brands from across the grocery store footprint have been invited to participate in the Non-UPF pilot program, which will gather and incorporate insights directly from these committed brands about the new certification. “The purpose of the pilot,” Westgate said, “is really to learn from food manufacturers, and to ‘pressure test’ the first draft of a standard, ultimately providing consumers with trustworthy informed choice that is also achievable and meaningful within the CPG space.”
The launch of a new certification
When will the new label be in stores? The pilot program will kick off this spring, with the finalization of the Non-UPF standard expected this summer. Brands interested in applying for verification can expect the program to open the fall of 2025.
“With the Non-GMO Project, we’ve seen firsthand the incredible power of informed choice to move markets and transform the food system,” said Westgate. “We see the potential to go a lot further together. We hold both the power and the responsibility to collaboratively create a retail food system that promotes and restores health in human communities and the broader collective of life on Earth.”
Learn more about the Non-UPF Verified by accessing the webinar recording. Brands interested in verification can sign up for the waitlist and consumers, retailers and partners can utilize the comment form to share feedback on the program.
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About the Non-GMO Project
The Non-GMO Project is a mission-driven nonprofit organization dedicated to collaboratively creating a retail food system that promotes and restores health in humans, communities, and the broader collective of life on Earth through its new Food Integrity Collective, Non-UPF Verified program, and Non-GMO Project Verified mark.
Since 2007, the Non-GMO Project Verified seal remains North America’s most trusted third-party verification for GMO avoidance. Backed by their rigorous Standard, the Butterfly label is a meaningful way for brands and retailers to show their commitment to non-GMO choices and the food transparency that shoppers seek. Learn more at www.foodintegritycollective.org, www.nongmoproject.org and www.nonultraprocessed.org.
Attachments
CONTACT: Alex Tursi Non-GMO Project 360-255-7704 alex@weareguru.com
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