Does this count as UPF food? Tesco smashed avocado

[CommuteQ]

Sorry stupid question but have been trying to eat as much fresh fruit and veg, and would usually buy fresh avocados.

However my local Tesco had none in stock, so I ended up buying this “Tesco smashed avocado”

these are ingredients: Avocado, Tomato, Concentrated Lime Juice, Salt, Black Pepper.

However it tastes so different to avocado or homemade guacamole?? No where as nice as real thing or homemade guac

At least it was cheaper I guess, if it isn’t upf I’d probably still buy it to save money as it will still give health benefits but that’s it

It’s obviously processed but not UPF with those ingredients - all real food you’d find in a kitchen, although I guess concentrating lime juice might technically make it UPF.

My Zoe app gives it a score of 86 though, so I’m going to go with not UPF

It's the concentrated lime juice that makes it taste weird.

I was going to say exactly the same - except for me the Zoe app gives a score of 81 (out of 100) which is very good. Avocado is 95, so almost perfect.

Can people really not tell what is a UPF or not? It literally has like 5 ingredients, all of them natural real food that you’d add to guacamole if you made it at home. You don’t need an app to think this through for you. It tastes weird because it’s pre-made and the lime juice concentrate is probably quite bitter. If you can pronounce all the ingredients and they are the sort of thing that people would have had 100 years ago to prepare food with (discounting that we probably wouldn’t have had avocados anyway 😂), yes, it’s non-UPF.

How can you think those ingredients are UPF?

You can make juice concentrate at home using nothing but the fruit so on that basis non-UPF

Concentrated lime juice = UPF

Have you never followed a recipe that called for you to ‘reduce’ the sauce? Literally that’s what concentrating is! 🤣

No, it's processed but not UPF. If it had additional ingredients in the lime juice that made it UPF they would be listed in the avocado ingredients.

Does it matter? It’s avocado not a Mr Kipling Swiss roll with 900 ingredients.
I’m trying to cut down on UPFs but draw the line at scrutinising lime juice 🤣

Processed doesn't mean bad. Cooking is processing, so a baked potato with cottage cheese and chives would fall under that while being healthy. I am trying, and mostly failing, to cut l down on ultra processsed though.

It’s UPF. You wouldn’t have it on hand as a natural ingredient in your kitchen.

No, not having it on hand as a natural ingredient makes it processed but not ultra processed. UPF is very different

It's not always that obvious. Some Innocent smoothies are UPFs, eg https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/innocent-super-smoothie-blue-spark-750ml?utmcustom6=Loyalty&gclsrc=aw.ds&&cmpid=cpc&utmmsource=Google&utmmedium=cpc&utmmcampaign=20333793068&utmcontent=shopping&utmmterm=%257Bsku%257D&utmcustom1=&utmmcustom2=759-449-0952&gadsource=1&gaddcampaignid=19663891335&gbraid=0AAAAAD17JD4tNe88lNnQE3XK5ubt73S-&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9czHBhCyARIsAFZlN8RjjEUcdwFlCtKc9axgfBNmtAEuSmSKR1nDv3CcSCLzqGQ7bS-xbYaAoUTEALww_wcB

Or oat milk:

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/oatly-barista-edition-original-oat-drink-1l?gclsrc=aw.ds&&cmpid=cpc&utmsource=Google&utmmmedium=cpc&utmcampaign=20333793068&utmmcontent=shopping&utmterm=%257Bsku%257D&utmmcustom1=&utmcustom2=759-449-0952&gaddsource=1&gadcampaignid=19663891335&gbraid=0AAAAAD17JJD4tNe88lNnQE3XK5ubt73S-&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9czHBhCyARIsAFZlN8TDeNSpsvjy7PE4pnlnvdnh5qfmLNlvBmNm1Vc13Le4QdMQ30TMpgaAhQYEALwwwcB

Or MOMA porridge - it looks so wholesome and natural but it's a UPF

www.amazon.co.uk/MOMA-Blueberry-Porridge-Wholegrain-Contains/dp/B0DJWHT13N?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

I am very anti-UPF and I would eat this based on the ingredients, although given how you've described it I probably wouldn't!! Why not just mash up an avocado ??

🤭 Yeah that’s not what UPF means!

Because Tesco's didn't have any.

An unhealthy relationship with food is worse for you than UPFs.

Worrying about this and things like this will cause more harm to your mental health than the occasional UPF.

I’ve made strawberry concentrate this week and have a pint of it on hand in my fridge. One ingredient, one step, 35 minutes. Lime concentrate would be equally easy. Processed, but not ultra processed.

Does it really matter if you're only having it as a one off?