Yes - When I read the definition for UPF a few years back i didn’t realize that even nuts covered in spices or sugar were covered as UPF
How UPF is defined can be confusing. The following was pulled from a google search and google AI:
The Nova classification is a framework for grouping edible substances based on the extent and purpose of food processing applied to them. Researchers at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, proposed the system in 2009. (NOVA did the first research on UPF and is considered the key source work.)
The NOVA classification system is another way to define UPF. The NOVA system groups foods based on the extent and purpose of industrial processing. UPF are defined as industrially produced foods that are ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat, and that contain few whole foods.
The NOVA classification system defines processed foods as foods that are made by adding substances like salt, sugar, or oil to natural or minimally processed foods. The goal of processing is to preserve or make the food more palatable.
The NOVA classification system groups foods into four categories based on the extent and nature of their industrial processing:
- Group 1
Fresh or minimally processed foods, like fruits, vegetables, meat, milk, and eggs
- Group 2
Refined ingredients used for cooking and seasoning, like salt, sugar, olive oil, butter, and vinegar
- Group 3
Foods preserved with salt, sugar, and fat, like canned foods, traditional bread, and cheese
- Group 4
Ultra-processed foods, which are made from substances extracted from foods, derived from food constituents, or synthesized in laboratories
(The best selling book defines UPF as this)
The book Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food … and Why Can’t We Stop? by Chris van Tulleken defines ultra-processed foods (UPF) as foods that are engineered to drive overconsumption. The book argues that UPF are made with low-cost ingredients, and that they take advantage of biological levers that are hardwired into humans. Van Tulleken also argues that willpower and exercise alone aren’t always enough to prevent obesity.
(I remember reading about how plain yogurt without additives is considered basic processed food, to sustain longevity of ingredients . Adding sugar, coloring and additives makes it UPF. Look at a label, all that weird ten syllables words with odd scientific bend is likely UPF.)
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This is a good read.
Further to your point, identifying what is and isn’t ultra-processed shouldn’t be as confusing as this quiz demonstrates it is.
But also, reading ingredient list is the only solution, not the labels the corporations attach (“healthy”).
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Not sure what to make of this.
On the one hand, all research is limited in that it’s only answering the very limited question posed.
On the other, obfuscation.
“Hall argues that research into ultra-processed foods, which make up an estimated two-thirds of the American diet, could prove useful to the very companies that manufacture them.”
This is the whole problem.
One researcher saying stuff like this isn’t helping the overall goal either, it’s just tunnel vision science at the expense of what is practical in healthfulness terms in the real world: "studies like Hall’s are “worse than worthless—they’re misleading”.
Because what’s the alternative for lay people? There’s enough ignorance without adding to it because the research isn’t perfect – it’s never going to be.
Unless there’s something that shows the additives and processing are good for health, the rest seems like nit-picking.
(Like that microplastics discussion: I didn’t see any research that ingesting plastics was healthy, but plenty of skepticism about exactly how unhealthy it was, and until they could say exactly how bad it was, why bother removing it from the system.)
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[WSJ] Are Some Ultra-Processed Foods OK? New Study Has Answers?
Free version here in case you are not a WSJ subscriber.
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Not anymore.
I was looking for something about fermented food and came across this article @Phoenikia had posted on an older thread about the effect of processed food on the gut microbiome, and the possible link to colorectal cancer.
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This are some articles my registered dietician has written.
Emulsifiers are basically detergent in your gut, and very common in UPF. The rise of colon cancer among people under 50 is on the rise, many think a diet of UPF is a factor since this demographic consumed UPF like no other generation.
Ew. Off to check my beloved Tillamook’s label 
And yet, a dab of mustard in homemade mayonnaise acts as an emulsifier. So does the egg and lemon blend in avgolemono.
The article is about artificial emulsifiers in processed foods.
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Tara gum and guar gum. Weird that it uses both. Still gonna finish that whole thing 
Thickeners and emulsifiers are not the same thing. Both may stabilize, and emulsifying a mixture may thicken it, but thickeners like guar gum bind themselves to water, emulsifiers bind water to oil.
Is it cottage cheese that you’re eating? Daisy brand doesn’t add thickeners.
No. This was on the Tillamook ice cream label.
I despise cottage cheese.
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I don’t know about TJ but the Aldi threads definitely discuss their fresh produce.
