There are two kinds of food processing. One kind of food processing separates the edible or more desirable parts of the food from the inedible or less desirable

There are two kinds of food processing. One kind of food processing separates the edible or more desirable parts of the food from the inedible or less desirable parts of the food. This kind of processing has been done industrially for thousands of years, e.g. with the production of meal or flour from seeds or the extraction of oil from oily fruits or oily seeds. As long as care is taken to prevent changes in the parts of the food that are separated (e.g. by using cold pressing or sCO2 extraction instead of hot pressing for oil extraction), such processing methods cannot have any detrimental effects on food, but they can greatly reduce the costs needed for the storage and for the transport of food. The second class of food processing methods mix various food ingredients and/or transform the food in various ways, by using heating, whipping etc. When food processing methods of the second class are used industrially, as opposed to being performed at home by the end consumer, they almost always result in unhealthy food, because the interest of the food vendor of obtaining a maximum profit conflicts with the requirements that have to be observed in order to make a healthy food. Terms like "highly-processed food" or "ultra-processed food" make sense only when applied to food processed with methods of the second class. Chicken breast separated from bones and skin is not more processed than an apple separated from its tree.