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The Food Industry’s Tobacco Moment

The SF Lawsuit Is Just the Beginning The food industry has long moved as though immune to the kind of accountability that shook Big Tobacco decades ago. But with the San Francisco ultra-processed food lawsuit targeting the entire food system – not just brands or manufacturers, but distributors, retailers, and marketers alike – that immunity […]

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Food intelligence and AI

From Labels to “Food Intelligence”: How AI Is Finally Making Personalized Nutrition Real

AI-powered personalized nutrition is finally moving from buzzword to reality, driven by better health data, smarter algorithms, and deeper understanding of what is actually in our food. For brands, health apps, and FoodTech companies, this shift creates a massive opportunity.​ What Is AI-Powered Personalized Nutrition? AI-powered personalized nutrition uses algorithms to connect individual health data […]

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The Failure of GRAS

The Failure of GRAS and the WISEcode Solution 

The Wild West of Food Safety in America  For nearly 70 years, the United States has relied on a regulatory construct called GRAS – “Generally Recognized as Safe” – to govern thousands of chemicals in the US food supply. In 1958, Congress created the GRAS exemption in the Food Additives Amendment to protect the public […]

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yuka, scanning apps and what they're missing

When a Viral Video Makes You Question Everything In Your Cart

If you’ve watched Yuka’s recent content on the U.S. food system, you know the storyline: scan a product, see a low score, and suddenly realize just how much of your daily diet is ultra-processed, packed with additives, and engineered to keep you coming back for more. The takeaway is unmistakable; ultra-processed foods now make up […]

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San Francisco Sues Big Food

The San Francisco UPF Lawsuit and the Rise of Data-Driven Food Transparency

Why modern food processing, ingredient quality, and health outcomes can no longer hide behind ambiguity. San Francisco’s recent lawsuit against ten of America’s largest food manufacturers marks a profound shift in how society views the modern food system. For decades, concerns about highly processed, industrially engineered food have circulated in research journals and public-health circles. […]

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campbell's ultra processed

Campbell’s Soup & Ultra-Processed Foods: What the Headlines Miss

Over the last week, Campbell’s Soup has been in the news; not for a new flavor, but for comments about how processed their foods really are, straight from the recently fired VP’s mouth. The headlines reignited a familiar debate: Campbell’s response? Fire the employee and insist that everything is fine. WISEcode’s response? Provide transparency and […]

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Master Code Behind Food

Computable Nutrition: The Master Code Behind Every Food

Nutrition Has a Computation Problem… And We’re Solving It For decades, nutrition has lived inside a strange paradox. We’ve always known that food shapes our health more powerfully than almost anything else… Yet we still can’t compute it. Not really. Not systematically. Not in a way that scientists, regulators, clinicians, retailers, and consumers can all […]

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UPF Code Hack, ultra processed food challenge, code builder, nutrition science, richard black

Ultra-Processed Food Challenge: An Invitation to Collaborate

Many of you are familiar with WISEcode and our work to establish what we believe will become the world’s most comprehensive food and nutrition database, and now launching the Ultra-Processed Food Challenge as the next step in that mission.  Our original focus was on capturing and classifying nutrients – both essential and non-essential – but […]

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UPFs, ultra-processed food, defining ultra-processed, UPF Code Hack, WISEcode

What Does “Ultra-Processed” Really Mean? Why WISEcode Is Inviting the Industry to Help Define It

If you ask five nutritionists what makes a food “ultra-processed,” you’ll get five different answers. This confusion isn’t just a semantic issue. It directly impacts consumer trust, brand transparency, and even public health. Right now, the health and wellness industries rely on fuzzy definitions while marketers, regulators, and consumers struggle to keep up. As SVP […]

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thanksgiving stuffing, stuffing brands, stuffing rankings, whats americas favorite thanksgiving side dish

Uncover What’s In America’s Favorite Side Dish: Stuffing

Stuffing reigns as the undisputed Thanksgiving side dish in 2025, topping the charts in 42 states and reflecting America’s radically transparent love affair with this savory, customizable classic. But why does stuffing command such loyalty, and how do the most popular brands score on ingredient and nutrient quality according to WISEcode’s WISEscore? We use our […]

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