To wonder exactly what Ultra Processed Foods are? As in a list?

[tentosix]

So watched the TV program 'what are we feeding our kids' and horrified like most parents, but why didn't it list them? Or give a better idea than having loads of ingredients. Is sugar bad for you in moderation (I have a teaspoon on my morning porridge). Bread? White/brown/whole meal/seeded?

McDonald's are just beef aren't they?

Nuggets I get, and presumably hash browns?

I need a list just to get me started

@DarcyLewis

This article has more detail about minimally processed/processed/ultra processed foods.

Link www.theguardian.com/food/2020/feb/13/how-ultra-processed-food-took-over-your-shopping-basket-brazil-carlos-monteiro

Mcdonalds say its 100% beef.

I haven't had a chance to watch the program yet but I've heard a lot of people talking about it. Out of interest was infant formula mentioned at all?

Infant formula wasn't mentioned.

I actually thought the program was a bit boring, lots of interviews with people rather than actual information on examples of ultra processed foods or how to avoid them.

I didn't hear infant formula mentioned, but it must be processed to some extent. I agree in principle with what the programme was saying, but the presenter (Dale?) I thought took it too far. He ate only ultra processed food for the whole month. I don't think many people eat like that.

@livingthegoodlife

Infant formula wasn't mentioned.

I actually thought the program was a bit boring, lots of interviews with people rather than actual information on examples of ultra processed foods or how to avoid them.

I imagine that's because it was nothing more than sensationalism dressed up as science. Light on facts, heavy on click bait, just the way the public likes it as this thread proves. Perfect grist for judgmental mills.

I think it's a little too simplistic to divide foods like this and often products that sound the same vary. It's not helpful and yet again is bashing the poorest for trying to balance their budgets. I mostly scratch cook, bake bread etc but I've very aware I'm privileged to have enough money and crucially time to be able to. Same goes for things like infant formula - it's highly processed, no doubts about that and I didn't give it to my kids but I wasn't working and was able to get good advice at the crucial point, I know women who were back in work within 6 weeks (USA)

Ready salted crisps as you describe are processed but if they were roast chicken crisps they would probably be ultra processed as Darcy says.

@SixDegrees

To make homemade crisps you can use a mandolin or food processor plus wok. They are very tasty but too much faff!

Perfect grist for judgmental mills

Pot. Kettle. Black.

Thats most of my diet User629202

I over the years we have become reliant on processed foods.

When I think back to my childhood ( I'm 46), my mum predominately cooked from scratch. Our cakes were homemade and we had very few biscuits and sweets.

I'm not sure when the shift to convenience processed food happened...

@tentosix I agree with other posters. I cook from scratch 95-99% of the time, but I still use some 'cheat' ingredients because I read the packet and decide whether or not I'd be putting those ingredients in the food if I made it myself. E.g. I do use some microwave rice, because the ingredients list is just 'rice, oil' and I'm okay with that, or some supermarket fresh cheese sauce (IIRC Sainsburys is okay, but not, I think, Morrisons?) because it has the same ingredients I would use from scratch. But I wouldn't buy something that had about six different ingredients with numbers or chemicals, or anything I didn't recognise. I also mostly eat veggie food (from scratch) as so many meat products are processed.

The other thing I do tend to look at for pork products is how they have been processed or cured, e.g. prosciutto that has only been cured with salt won't cause the same health problems as one that has been fast cured with nitrates.

It is horribly confusing, sometimes I think deliberately so, and you really have to be a) a confident cook, b) have a repertoire of fast, easy recipes, c) have at least some time to keep to the 95-99% thing. I then think the 5-1% doesn't really matter - a McDonalds once in a while is a nice treat or the bacon and sausage sandwich I had last weekend

Someone mentioned oil in crisps, that was one of the things I was surprised by, veg oil, rapeseed oil etc were classed as processed but olive oil wasn't. It's not just the ingredients, it's what's done to them before you eat them.

@SixDegrees

It's more that if the ingredients contain stuff you couldn't use in home cooking then it's probably UPF.

I’d agree with that as a general rule.

Although there’s some foods that I’m a bit confused about.

I’ve eaten a bag of ready salted crisps with lunch today - the ingredient list is potatoes, vegetable oil (sunflower and rapeseed), and salt - a small ingredient list, all the sort of ingredients you might expect to find in a home kitchen. But it’d be really hard to make crisps at home, how could you slice the potatoes that thinly without specialist equipment?
So are they processed or ultra-processed?

I’ve made crisps at home. Slice the potatoes in the blender with slicing blade and deep fry in deep fat fryer. Very moorish

My yogurt is plain.

But sometimes I get a flavoured one from Yeo Valley. It contains fruit purée, sugar and milk. So that’s more processed because the fruit has to be puréed and processed.

I usually buy plain and add fruit. But it’s confusing.

I never buy those kids munch bunch or the petit flious types. They look processed and high in weirdness. I’m vegetarian so “diet” yogurts like muller light are very processed and contain pork or beef.

It's nkt often just pureed fruit added. That's the problem. You get starch, sometimes Es, thickeners and other stuff.

Eggs - hens are fed meal which can contain a yellow colourant to make the yolks more visually appealing to the buyers. Some yellow colourants can be natural, others are not.

Farmed Salmon - canthaxanthin and astaxanthin are added to the salmon's food to give the skin a pretty pink colour which is more visually appealing to the buyers. There's even a chart called a 'SalmoFan' so producers can add colour to the diet to produce a specific colour of the meat. How natural are they? It's one of those questions which will take a bit of research to determine.

I don't know if this type of interfering with food makes it to the consumer labelling though. If it's of concern, please investigate.

@FusionChefGeoff

Does it stack up to say "could I buy it in the 60s?"

Might be a good shortcut

In the 1960's you could buy Angel Delight, I'm pretty sure that is ultra

I recommend reading Swallow This by Joanna Blythman, very enlightening on the UPF industry.

So my organic Yeo valley kefir has maize starch in it. Humph.

@DobbyTheHouseElk

So my organic Yeo valley kefir has maize starch in it. Humph.

The plain one doesn't. My favourite yogurt out there. I keep frozen fruits in a fridge to mix in

I know, I usually have the plain one. Thought I’d try the kefir because it was so dismal making my own.

I’ll be back to the plain version.

Any pie in a tin!

Infant formula is incredibly processed but the difference in health between breastfed and bottle fed babies is pretty narrow. I’m not sure I buy this really. We eat fairly little processed food of any sort but I do buy bread and I use stock cubes. I also eat sausages and smoked salmon. I think that’s genuinely about it. Oh I like baked beans add that to the list!