What counts as a processed food?

A healthy lifestyle that helps prevent disease often includes, as youll read, cutting back on processedespecially highly processedfoods.

But when is a food considered processed? Hardly anyone pulls a carrot straight out of the ground and bites into it. In most cases the carrot gets at least a quick wash or a rinse to remove the soil before it ends up on our plates. Is that cleaning already a form of processing, or where does processing begin?

The NOVA classification offers a fairly easy-to-understand guide. It sorts foods into four groups based on how processed they are:

Group 1

includes foods that are natural, unprocessed, or only minimally processed. That means after harvest or slaughter they were merely cleaned, chilled, frozen, heated, or fermented. Processing in this group is limited to making the product edible or safe to store while keeping it essentially in its natural state. Our washed carrot would fall into this group.

As a rule, additives from Group 2 arent used to extend shelf life. There are rare exceptions, for example pasteurized milk, or added stabilizers or antioxidants in vacuum-packed vegetables.

Alongside fresh fruit and vegetables, Group 1 also includes seeds and roots, as well as milk, eggs (even if heated), plain yogurt without added sugar or similar, and meat.

Group 2

covers processed ingredients mainly used to prepare food. They are made directly from the Group 1 products by pressing, refining, milling, or drying. Additives such as anti-caking agents, iodine, or antioxidants may be present here.

Products in this group are usually not eaten on their own but are used in food preparation. Group 2 includes items like unrefined oils, sugar, salt, honey, butter, lard, and plant starches such as corn or potato starch.

Group 3

then includes typical, relatively simply processed foods like bread, cheese, or canned goods. Basically, these are Group 1 foods with added Group 2 ingredients. By preserving, fermenting, cooking, or baking, their shelf life is extendedone main purpose of processing for products in this group. Another reason is to change or improve texture, appearance, smell, or taste.

An easy example is bread: Flour is mixed with water and salt and leavened with yeast or sourdough so the dough needs to rise, i.e., it ferments slightly. Baking gives it a firmer texture and longer shelf life. The finished bread has been changed in look, smell, taste, and texture.

Other examples in this group are canned fruits, vegetables, and fish, salted or sugared nuts, cured and smoked meats, and cheese. Alcoholic drinks like wine and beer can also be placed in this group.

Group 4

contains the so-called highly or ultra-processed foods, which usually have five or moreoften many moreingredients. The abbreviation UPF is common for this group; it stands for "ultra-processed food".

These products often contain only extracts of Group 1 foods, and sometimes none at all. They typically include Group 2-type ingredients that have themselves been heavily processed, like hydrogenated fats, cheap sweeteners or sugar substitutes, and flavor enhancers.

They also use substances not normally used in home cooking to mimic sensory properties or mask undesirable ones.

Theres an almost endless list of additives that can be usedflavors, colorings, fillers, emulsifiers, etc.to make the final product tasty, ready-to-eat, shelf-stable, colorful, attractive, and more. The base ingredients are often inexpensive and are heavily altered in flavor by the manufacturing process.

The final product is offered in appealing packaging and often pushed with sophisticated marketing.

Group 4 includes a wide range of items, from pre-baked rolls to "diet" products, energy drinks, ready meals, fruit drinks, "health" products, flavored or artificially sweetened yogurt, infant formula, sweets, and frozen dessert rolls. If you count alcohol as food, distilled spirits like whiskey or vodka and colorful alcopops fit here as well.

Why does this matter?

Several studies have shown harmful health effects from consuming ultra-processed foods. Higher mortality and increased rates of disease have been observed in participants whose diets mainly consisted of ready-made meals and highly processed products. This includes a worse cardiometabolic risk profilethat is, a higher risk of developing cardiovascular diseaseas well as higher overall mortality, increased cancer risk, more changes in cerebral blood vessels up to strokes, and also depression.

A Brazilian study even identified high consumption of ultra-processed foods as an independent risk factor for premature death. The researchers demonstrated a linear increase in mortality with rising intake of ultra-processed foods.

Many health-related dietary guidelines therefore recommend avoiding highly processed foods, because they tend to be high in calories, contain unhealthy fats, a lot of salt and/or sugar, and have few vitamins and fibers.

On top of that, the health effects of the many possible additives are often unknown or not well understood. From time to time the media report potential health risks from these substances, sometimes involving additives previously considered harmless.

Like other additives, sugar substitutes are repeatedly criticized. Erythritol was linked in a 2023 study to increased platelet aggregation, meaning a greater tendency for blood clotting. Earlier studies have also been rather critical of this sugar substitute.

In another 2023 study, researchers found that the sweetener sucralose might affect certain immune cells.

In summary, higher UPF consumptionthough shown in a limited number of studieswas associated with a worse cardiometabolic risk profile and a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, depression, and overall mortality.

Sources

This article comes from BloodPressureDB – the leading app since 2011 that helps hundreds of thousands of people monitor their blood pressure every day. Our content is based on carefully researched, evidence-based information and is continuously updated (as of 12/2025).

Author Sabine Croci is a certified medical assistant with many years of experience in internal medicine and cardiology practices as well as in outpatient care. Since 2015 she has led the editorial team at BloodPressureDB. With additional qualifications as a paramedic, first responder, and training in various therapy and emergency areas, she provides well-founded, practical, and reliably reviewed information.