4 ms·

I think you're misinterpreting it and taking things to extremes. I don't think you have read it well enough as here are multiple foods you have mentioned which

I think you're misinterpreting it and taking things to extremes. I don't think you have read it well enough as here are multiple foods you have mentioned which are absolutely not ultra-processed under the NOVA model. Case in point if you search freshly baked breads and pink lady apples they aren't marked as ultra-processed under the NOVA classification. With Pink Lady apples considered a NOVA score of 1 which is "Unprocessed or minimally processed foods". It legitimately says that freshly baked bread would be considered processed but not ultra-processed, also just because it says its processed doesn't mean its unhealthy, its just classified as such. In the case of your reconstitued meat in the way that you prepare it would not be considered ultra-processed because majority of the food still comes from Group 1, as it says. Its not a scale of unprocessed through to ultra-processed, there's a scale here. Search a few foods in the database and have a look. There's nothing there that says your home grown cucumbers with some salt are considered ultra-processed.

dlcarrier 1y ago
Of course I'm misinterpreting it. That's my point: there's no clear correct interpretation, so everything is a misinterpretation. A clear definition would address all edge cases, which is necessary for prevent suppliers from gaming the system, as they currently do for example with claims of "no added sugar" by using evaporated cane juice. Pink Lady apples are clearly in the lowest category of processing, but the reason I brought it up is that they more comprehensively meet the "overall purpose of ultra-processing" more than anything I've found, while TVP patties and candy canes are most clearly in the highest category of processing, but are usually unbranded, inconvenient, unappetizing, low margin products that are entirely antithetical to the "overall purpose of ultra-processing". I searched through the database and most junk food I found was not ranked as ultra-processed, except for chips made from potato flour, which listed the addition of Annatto as a marker for being ultra-processed. I have Annato in my kitchen right now, because it's a traditional ingredient in Mesoamerican foods that has been used for thousands of years, and there's many dishes I couldn't make without it. It's a whole fruit that dries on the plant and it's only processing is grinding, which should put it in the lowest category, but somehow adding it to foods puts them in the highest category. It has been shown to fight cancer (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26875492/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26875492/) but the page suggests that ultra-processed foods increase the risk of cancer. The breads that show up don't look fresh at all, and crispbread, which I've never seen delivered fresh is still not categorized as ultra-processed. (https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/7300400481588/fine-rye-crispbread-fibre-wasa https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/7300400481588/fine-r...) Meanwhile I did find a bread product where fortifying with vitamin C was the sole reason it's categorized as ultra-processed: (https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/01318180/multiseed-wholemeal-farmhouse-loaf-sainsbury-s https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/01318180/multiseed-w...) The same seems to be true of vital wheat gluten, a traditional food in China.
- NoPicklez 1y ago
  And I challenge you to think about a clear definition that addresses all edge cases because there isn't one

dlcarrier 1y ago

Of course I'm misinterpreting it. That's my point: there's no clear correct interpretation, so everything is a misinterpretation. A clear definition would address all edge cases, which is necessary for prevent suppliers from gaming the system, as they currently do for example with claims of "no added sugar" by using evaporated cane juice. Pink Lady apples are clearly in the lowest category of processing, but the reason I brought it up is that they more comprehensively meet the "overall purpose of ultra-processing" more than anything I've found, while TVP patties and candy canes are most clearly in the highest category of processing, but are usually unbranded, inconvenient, unappetizing, low margin products that are entirely antithetical to the "overall purpose of ultra-processing". I searched through the database and most junk food I found was not ranked as ultra-processed, except for chips made from potato flour, which listed the addition of Annatto as a marker for being ultra-processed. I have Annato in my kitchen right now, because it's a traditional ingredient in Mesoamerican foods that has been used for thousands of years, and there's many dishes I couldn't make without it. It's a whole fruit that dries on the plant and it's only processing is grinding, which should put it in the lowest category, but somehow adding it to foods puts them in the highest category. It has been shown to fight cancer (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26875492/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26875492/) but the page suggests that ultra-processed foods increase the risk of cancer. The breads that show up don't look fresh at all, and crispbread, which I've never seen delivered fresh is still not categorized as ultra-processed. (https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/7300400481588/fine-rye-crispbread-fibre-wasa https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/7300400481588/fine-r...) Meanwhile I did find a bread product where fortifying with vitamin C was the sole reason it's categorized as ultra-processed: (https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/01318180/multiseed-wholemeal-farmhouse-loaf-sainsbury-s https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/01318180/multiseed-w...) The same seems to be true of vital wheat gluten, a traditional food in China.

NoPicklez 1y ago
And I challenge you to think about a clear definition that addresses all edge cases because there isn't one