> other mechanically/chemically-extracted ingredients Kneading dough to make the gluten elastic looks to me like mechanical processing. And the use of microbes

> other mechanically/chemically-extracted ingredients Kneading dough to make the gluten elastic looks to me like mechanical processing. And the use of microbes (yeasts and lactobacteria) to transform sugars and starches into simpler chemicals looks like chemical processing. HFCS is made by what is essentially a single-step process: corn starch is treated with sulphuric acid to produce simple sugars. I don't happen to want to eat HFCS, but the stuff isn't so different from malt. Part of my objection to this designation is the "ultra-" bit; "ultra-processed" means something like "beyond processed". The term is literally hype; "hyper-processed" would mean the same, but isn't used because it makes it obvious that something is being exaggerated.