The Sausage Standoff: Defining ‘Ultra-Processed’ in Indiana Schools

A bill at the Indiana Statehouse that aims to make kids healthier is sparking debate about ultraprocessed foods and where pork fits into that definition.

Marion County Republican Julie McGuire has introduced House Bill 1137, which states that public schools can’t serve or sell an ultra-processed food or beverage on school days. There are 13 ingredients that show up on McGuire’s banned list.

“If you have a nutrient-dense food like sausage, and one of the chemicals in the list that they talked about today was BHT, and we use BHT when we process some of our products because it helps fat from going rancid,” says Josh Trenary, Indiana Pork Executive Director.

Trenary, who says pork, obviously, isn’t like what this bill should be targeting: junk food.

“There are very different types of processing out there. And if you’re using processing technology or a chemical to make a nutrient-dense food like a pork product more shelf-stable or to maintain its nutrient availability or increase its shelf life, then what you’re doing is you’re helping the consumer have access to that nutrient-dense food.”

Trenary says the simple fix to this bill is to consider the context and reasoning for the processing and what kind of food is being processed. He says that’s just as important as the chemicals you’re using to process.

“And if there are health risks inherent in a product and our kids shouldn’t be consuming that product, philosophically that’s not the thing we have a problem with. The problem comes when you’re only relying on that list of additives and nothing else to determine what should be regulated in that fashion.”

A hearing on the bill was held Wednesday morning. Trenary talks more about how this bill could impact the definition of ultra-processed foods at the national level in the full HAT interview below. He also asks those in agriculture to think more deeply about how this could impact all sectors of ag if we continue down this path.