CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 4, 2026--
Simple Mills, a leading provider of better-for-you crackers, cookies, bars, and baking mixes made with purposeful, nutrient-dense ingredients and one of the first brands to earn verification under the Non-UPF™ Verified Standard, is launching a national campaign, “Announcing Absolutely Nothing” to celebrate a simple fact, in a lighthearted and humorous way: Simple Mills has changed nothing. Same ingredients. Same recipes. Now Non-UPF Verified.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260804073899/en/
“Announcing Absolutely Nothing” is a multi-market omni-channel campaign that includes brand takeovers in New York (Union Square and Port Authority), Los Angeles, and The Hamptons, with a clear message: Simple Mills offers the same non-ultraprocessed snacks it always has, now Non-UPF Verified. The brand submitted its entire portfolio of crackers, cookies, bars, and baking mixes for Non-UPF verification, and so far, 60% of its products have already been approved, with the vast majority of products anticipated to be verified later this year. This verification was achieved without needing to reformulate a single recipe, demonstrating that the brand’s commitment to using nutrient-dense, minimally-processed ingredients in novel ways that maximize nutrition and flavor inherently aligns with the new Non-UPF Verified Standard.
Addressing the Transparency Gap in Ultra-Processed Foods
As concerns about ultraprocessed foods continue to rise, many Americans lack the ability to recognize them. According to research conducted by Linkage Research & Consulting for the Food Integrity Collective, 68% of consumers say they actively try to avoid ultra-processed foods, while 70% say they struggle to identify them. 2 The Non-UPF Verified label is designed to help address this gap by providing a clear marker on shelf.
“We’ve been dedicated to using nutrient-dense, stunningly simple ingredients like nut, seed, vegetable, and legume flours - whole food sources that offer nutrition, taste, and texture - long before non-ultraprocessed was a topic of conversation,” said Michelle Lorge, President of Simple Mills. “We’re proud to have helped pave the way and prove that snacks can be minimally processed, nutritious, and delicious at the same time. We know most shoppers want to avoid ultraprocessed foods but just need help identifying them, and the Non-UPF Verified badge gives them a simple green light. It’s nice to finally have a name for the foods we’ve been making since day one.”
Simple Mills’ ingredients are minimally processed using only gentle, physical extraction methods and no harsh chemicals. The brand never uses artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, or isolated gums, and uses sweeteners like coconut sugar, molasses, honey, and cane sugar.
“Announcing Absolutely Nothing” Media Rollout and Placements
“Announcing Absolutely Nothing” will come to life through a series of high-impact placements: a full-page print layout in The New York Times; major transit entrance takeovers surrounding New York's Union Square and Port Authority; large-format digital boards in Los Angeles and The Hamptons, and summer sky-banners targeting concentrated coastal wellness hubs, also in The Hamptons.
“Announcing Absolutely Nothing” will run in-market throughout the summer and will be amplified through social content and ongoing partnerships with prominent health, wellness, and culinary authorities.
For more information about Simple Mills and its commitment to food transparency, visit simplemills.com.
About Simple Mills
Founded in 2012, Simple Mills is a leading provider of better-for-you crackers, cookies, snack bars, and baking mixes made with simple and nutritious, high-quality ingredients that deliver extraordinary taste.
Simple Mills is one of the first brands verified under the Non-UPF Verified Standard, a third-party certification. Verification currently covers select products, with the remainder in process. See simplemills.com/nonupf.
The brand, which joined the Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO) portfolio in 2025, has disrupted center-aisle grocery categories, becoming a leading natural cracker, cookie, and baking mix brand in MULO+, with distribution in over 30,000 stores nationwide. Its mission is to revolutionize the way food is made to nourish people and planet. For more information, visit www.simplemills.com.
1 Non-UPF Verified™ applies to select Simple Mills products. For the current list, visit simplemills.com/nonupf.
2 Food Integrity Collective & Linkage Research & Consulting, "U.S. Consumer Ultra-Processed Food Insights & Verification Survey" (Internal Consumer Research in support of the Non-UPF Verified Standard, 2025/2026).
Simple Mills offers same snacks, now Non-UPF Verified™
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Cori Bush is attempting a political comeback Tuesday in a Missouri Democratic primary that tests evolving views on American-Israeli relations, just two years after the progressive “Squad” member was ousted by voters in favor of Wesley Bell.
The rematch in a heavily Democratic St. Louis district is one of several consequential primaries. In western Missouri, Republicans are picking a candidate to try to unseat Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver in a dramatically reshaped district that is part of President Donald Trump’s attempt to retain a slim House majority in the midterms.
In northern Missouri, Republicans are choosing a potential successor to retiring Rep. Sam Graves, chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Meanwhile, Missouri voters are deciding a pair of unique ballot measures backed by the Republican-led Legislature. One would require all citizen-initiated constitutional amendments to pass in each of Missouri's eight congressional districts instead of by a simple statewide majority — a high standard used by no other state. The other would direct lawmakers to repeal the state’s individual income tax while authorizing a state sales tax expansion.
The contest between Bush and Bell tests how much the Democratic Party has shifted over the past two years.
The deep-pocketed American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which lobbies for U.S. support of Israel, spent millions to help oust Bush in 2024 after she criticized Israel’s response in Gaza to the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Bell is again supported by AIPAC.
But public opinions of Israel have since shifted, particularly among Democrats. A recent survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 58% of Democrats now say the U.S. is “too supportive” of Israelis, up from 45% in an AP-NORC poll from January 2024.
This year's primary also could test the growing clout of democratic socialists, who have traveled from across the country to help campaign for Bush.
Bush and Bell both honed their leadership skills in Ferguson amid the racial unrest that followed the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer in 2014. Bell won election to the Ferguson City Council the next year, then defeated a seven-term St. Louis County prosecutor in the 2018 Democratic primary.
Bush, a protest leader, defeated longtime Rep. William Lacy Clay in the 2020 Democratic primary. She served two terms before being defeated by Bell.
Missouri was the second Republican state, after Texas, to respond to Trump’s call last year to redraw congressional districts to the GOP’s advantage ahead of the midterms. The revamped map stretches Cleaver’s previous Kansas City district eastward into rural central Missouri, giving the new 5th District a Republican tilt.
Cleaver is unopposed for the Democratic nomination. A six-person Republican primary features state Sen. Rick Brattin, a Marine veteran and founding member of the Missouri Freedom Caucus, a conservative faction that has challenged the legislature’s GOP leadership. Brattin now has the backing of some of Missouri's top Republicans, including Gov. Mike Kehoe, and received an endorsement from Trump on the evening before the election.
His main advertising competitor has been Taylor Burks, a Navy officer who previously served as Boone County clerk, which oversees elections in the home county of the University of Missouri.
Graves, who has represented rural northern Missouri for a quarter century, set off a political scramble when he announced in late March that he wasn’t seeking reelection. He endorsed conservative talk radio host Chris Stigall, who once worked for Graves.
The five-person Republican field in the GOP-leaning 6th District also features Kansas City Council member Nathan Willett. The recent redistricting added more northern Kansas City neighborhoods to the sprawling district. The Democratic primary has three candidates.
A constitutional amendment placed on the ballot by Republican state lawmakers would make it harder for citizen-initiated amendments to win voter approval. The measure comes after voters narrowly passed several controversial citizen initiatives, including ones enshrining abortion rights into the state constitution, legalizing recreational marijuana, allowing sports betting and expanding Medicaid coverage to low-income adults.
None of those would have passed under the proposed requirement that citizen-initiated amendments win majority approval in every congressional district. Under Amendment 4, constitutional amendments proposed by the Legislature would still need just a statewide majority.
Amendment 5 would direct the Legislature to gradually eliminate the individual income tax as state revenue grows. It also would allow lawmakers to raise revenue by expanding the sales tax to “any goods and services” — giving them five years to decide which sales to tax without needing further voter approval.
The Missouri measure marks the first time since the modern income tax began over a century ago that a U.S. state legislature has asked voters whether to eliminate the tax. Alaska is the only state so far to impose a general individual income tax and then repeal it, doing so in 1980 by a legislative vote.
Massachusetts voters rejected income tax eliminations in 2002 and 2008 that were initiated by citizens, not lawmakers.
FILE - The Missouri Capitol is shown on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024, in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb, File)
U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., with U.S. Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., at a healthcare rally hosted by Congressman Bell and Affinia Healthcare on Friday, July 24, 2026 in Ferguson, Mo. (AP Photo/Michael Thomas)
U.S. Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., speaks at a healthcare rally hosted by him and Affinia Healthcare on Friday, July 24, 2026 in Ferguson, Mo. (AP Photo/Michael Thomas)
