4 ms·

There doesn't seem to be a precise definition of processed food. Not to say industrial food is healthy, but it really depends what "processed" means. Bread is

by jokoon 4y ago

There doesn't seem to be a precise definition of processed food. Not to say industrial food is healthy, but it really depends what "processed" means. Bread is processed, but I'm not sure this what it means? There are unhealthy additives and sugar dosages and fat qualities, but it's a bit misleading to just say "processed". Home cooking is processed, yet it didn't imply eating raw food is better.

rcme 4y ago
My personal definition comes from how understandable the ingredients are. In the bread example, it’s just flour, salt, water, yeast, and sugar (in some breads). The bread I have at home contains soy lecithin. I know that’s an emulsifier but I don’t understand how it’s made. A quick Google search says it’s made with solvents like hexane, so I would consider that highly processed. Overall, I would consider my bread moderately processed compared to a loaf of sourdough. Now compare Velveeta to real cheese. There are many things in Velveeta I don’t understand that likely have complicated derivations.
- Clamchop 4y ago
  This sort of reasoning would fall apart if ingredient labels at a molecular level were put on "whole" foods, most of which (including bread) will have hundreds to thousands of chemicals that you won't recognize. Almost invariably, some of those will be associated with cancer. Being able to design food using mostly pure ingredients should be a way of assuring safety but it triggers a labeling requirement that might lead consumers to believe that the chemical is novel and was not previously found in food. Another way of describing soy lethicin (if the source is soybeans) would be "a fraction of soybean oil".
  - rcme 4y ago
    > This sort of reasoning would fall apart if ingredient labels at a molecular level were put on "whole" foods We don’t make or label food on the molecular level, so the reasoning doesn’t fall apart.
    - Clamchop 4y ago
      What we don't label can't hurt you, I guess.
      - rcme 4y ago
        What is harming you that currently isn’t labeled?
        voakbasda 4y ago
        How would you know if it is not labeled?
        rcme 4y ago
        https://www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules/special_issues/analysis_foods https://www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules/special_issues/analys...
hombre_fatal 4y ago
It's a euphemism for the hyperpalatable packaged foods that are bad for us that most of us struggle with. It's kind of like how nobody who says "I need to cut back on carbs" is talking about steel cut oats and black beans.
jjtheblunt 4y ago
i recently read "processed" meant not possible in a normal kitchen (which is still vague)

by jokoon 4y ago

rcme 4y ago

My personal definition comes from how understandable the ingredients are. In the bread example, it’s just flour, salt, water, yeast, and sugar (in some breads). The bread I have at home contains soy lecithin. I know that’s an emulsifier but I don’t understand how it’s made. A quick Google search says it’s made with solvents like hexane, so I would consider that highly processed. Overall, I would consider my bread moderately processed compared to a loaf of sourdough. Now compare Velveeta to real cheese. There are many things in Velveeta I don’t understand that likely have complicated derivations.

Clamchop 4y ago
This sort of reasoning would fall apart if ingredient labels at a molecular level were put on "whole" foods, most of which (including bread) will have hundreds to thousands of chemicals that you won't recognize. Almost invariably, some of those will be associated with cancer. Being able to design food using mostly pure ingredients should be a way of assuring safety but it triggers a labeling requirement that might lead consumers to believe that the chemical is novel and was not previously found in food. Another way of describing soy lethicin (if the source is soybeans) would be "a fraction of soybean oil".
- rcme 4y ago
  > This sort of reasoning would fall apart if ingredient labels at a molecular level were put on "whole" foods We don’t make or label food on the molecular level, so the reasoning doesn’t fall apart.
  - Clamchop 4y ago
    What we don't label can't hurt you, I guess.
    - rcme 4y ago
      What is harming you that currently isn’t labeled?
      - voakbasda 4y ago
        How would you know if it is not labeled?
        rcme 4y ago
        https://www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules/special_issues/analysis_foods https://www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules/special_issues/analys...

hombre_fatal 4y ago

It's a euphemism for the hyperpalatable packaged foods that are bad for us that most of us struggle with. It's kind of like how nobody who says "I need to cut back on carbs" is talking about steel cut oats and black beans.

jjtheblunt 4y ago

i recently read "processed" meant not possible in a normal kitchen (which is still vague)