Processed vs ultra-processed food: How to recognise ‘engineered’ ingredients

For as long as we’ve been cooking, humans have been trying to solve one problem: how to keep food from spoiling. Over centuries, we’ve evolved from drying ingredients under the sun to sealing them in factory-made packets. Somewhere between the simple acts of preservation and the crunch of convenience lies the story of altered food.

Step into almost any Indian kitchen and you’ll see food in motion. Rice being rinsed in cloudy water. Milk coaxed into becoming curd with nothing more than a spoonful of yesterday’s batch. These are almost invisible acts of processing—meant to preserve, to prepare, and to make a staple edible without stripping it of its character. Move a little further along the spectrum, and the transformations deepen. Dosa batter fermenting overnight, butter simmered down to ghee, vegetables sliced and left to dry in the sun. Still recognisably food, but reshaped by time and microbes. Push outward, and you reach artisanal processing—commercial blocks of paneer wrapped in cellophane, flour ground and packaged with minimal modification, jars of pickles made to last a season.

And then, at the far end, a rupture: industrial ultra-processing. This is where food is engineered rather than prepared. Instant noodles compressed into bricks, bread puffed up with emulsifiers, curry pastes and ready-to-eat meals fortified with stabilisers and preservatives. Here, salt, sugar, and fat dominate to override satiety and keep you reaching for more. But this was not always the case.  

Engineering for scale 

Consider ghee-making—one of humanity's oldest food preservation techniques. Traditional ghee involves slowly heating butter until the water within it evaporates and milk solids separate. This process concentrates nutrients, creates unique flavour compounds, and produces a stable fat that doesn't need refrigeration. In contrast, the manufacture of commercial ghee may start with cheaper oils. It may also contain additives such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), added to improve shelf-life, but better known for their debatable health risks if consumed above conservative limits. 

Dosa batter fermentation represents another traditional process. When rice and lentils are soaked, ground, and fermented, naturally occurring bacteria and yeast break down proteins and carbohydrates. This increases nutrient bioavailability, creates beneficial compounds like folate, reduces anti-nutrients, and imbues dosa batter with its characteristic tangy flavour. However, instant dosa mixes skip fermentation entirely. The complex biochemical transformations that occur during natural fermentation—which create beneficial compounds and improve digestibility—are bypassed in favour of speed and shelf stability.

Also read: Bastar’s secret ingredient? The power of preservation

Processed vs ultra-processed  

Processed foods start as natural or minimally-processed foods but have a few extra ingredients added—like salt, sugar, or oil. They are usually recognisable versions of the original food and are often used in cooking as part of a meal rather than eaten entirely on their own. For example, frozen peas or store-bought plain yogurt.

On the other hand, ultra-processed food often includes substances not typically found in a home kitchen. Its definition continues to evolve, but the generally agreed-upon understanding of the term is any industrial formulation containing five or more ingredients, including stabilisers and preservatives. The food matrix is broken down, meaning nutrients are less intact compared to the original source. Such foods are designed to be hyper-palatable, long-lasting, and ready-to-eat, but look and taste very different from the raw ingredients they came from. Examples: soda, chips, candy bars, flavoured instant noodles, or fruit juice in tetra packs.

India faces a unique challenge: there is no standard criteria for identifying UPFs using a classification system based on the extent and purpose of industrial processing.

If you slice up a potato at home and fry it as chips, it will be considered processed because you start with a natural food (potato), add ingredients like oil and salt, and cook it. The final product is still clearly derived from the original potato, and you’re only using simple ingredients you would normally have in your kitchen. Store-bought packaged chips, however, are ultra-processed since they contain many additives and go through industrial processing methods.

Here are some quick tips to spot the difference between the two categories: 

1. Look at the ingredient list:
   
   • If it has just a couple of recognisable ingredients, it is likely processed.
   • If it has a long list with additives, stabilisers, or things you wouldn’t cook with at home, then it is ultra-processed.
     
2. Think about how closely it resembles the original food:
   
   • Frozen corn is processed.
   • Corn chips like nachos with flavours, colours, and preservatives are ultra-processed.
     
3. Use the 5/20 Rule:

To apply the rule, start by looking at the Nutrition Facts label and focusing on the % Daily Value (% DV) column, which mentions the percentage of your daily diet that the food would contribute to. 

• Apply a 5% rule for the “bad” nutrients (ones you want to limit): sugar, sodium, and saturated fat. If the % DV on the nutrition label is 5% or less, that means the food is low in that nutrient, and it’s a good choice to limit excesses.
  
  • Example: If a snack has 3% DV sodium, it is low in sodium, and likely involved lesser processing. 
• Apply a 20% rule for “good” nutrients (ones you want more of): fibre, protein, vitamins, and minerals. If the % DV is 20% or more, that means the food is high in that nutrient, making it a nutrient-dense choice.
  
  • Example: If a cereal provides 25% DV fibre, it’s a good source of fibre.

Ultra-processing boom

India faces a unique challenge: there is no standard criteria for identifying UPFs using a classification system based on the extent and purpose of industrial processing. This definitional gap has led to inconsistent terminology, with descriptors like “junk foods,” “fast foods,” “ready-to-eat foods,” “instant foods,” “processed foods,” “packaged foods,” and “high-fat-sugar-and-salt (HFSS) foods” all being used interchangeably to denote UPFs. 

In 2024, researchers in India decided to address this by turning to a more familiar marketplace: the online grocery store. They scanned the labels of 375 brands—at least three for each item—and confirmed 81 foods (including chips, ready-to-serve beverages, breakfast cereals, namkeens, jams, and peanut butter) to be unmistakably ultra-processed. Even some packaged versions of traditional recipes, sold as convenient shortcuts to home cooking, carried the same markers highlighted in the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) guide to identifying UPFs. The markers included added flavours and colours (to mask unpleasant tastes, smells, or textures caused by ingredients, processing, or packaging), or enhanced the product to make its sensory qualities (appearance, taste, aroma, or feel) more appealing, or both. 

The goal is to recognise the difference between processing that enhances food and processing that engineers it beyond recognition.

Twenty-three categories of UPFs emerged from this analysis, revealing clear preference patterns. Breads, chips, and sugar-sweetened beverages topped the list as the most preferred UPFs, while frozen ready-to-cook foods (like chicken nuggets and frozen kebabs) were least preferred—reflecting Indian taste preferences and eating habits.

Commonly consumed, everyday UPFs that many people don't recognise as being ultra-processed include breakfast staples like commercial bread (even the ‘brown’ varieties), packaged cereals, and instant oats with added flavours. The beverages in this segment encompass packaged fruit juices, flavoured milk, and energy drinks. Convenience items, like packets of ketchup and mayonnaise, and seemingly traditional offerings, too, fall into this category—pickles packed with preservatives, commercial chutneys, and packaged spice mixes with anti-caking agents—demonstrating how UPF ingredients have crept into food preparation.

Also read: Food for thought? How our meals and minds are deeply, delicately connected

Why the difference matters

Indians are purchasing more and more junk food and the health implications are alarming. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) estimates that 56.4% of India's total disease burden—measured in financial costs, hospitalisation expenses, and lost productivity due to illness, including sick leave from school and work—is directly linked to the rising consumption of junk food.

This shift represents a cultural transformation. Understanding this spectrum helps make informed decisions. The goal is to recognise the difference between processing that enhances food and processing that engineers it beyond recognition.

A good rule of thumb is to look for foods with short, familiar ingredient lists. Whenever possible, choose items that have been traditionally processed. When convenience is unavoidable, take a moment to read the label and select products that stay closest to their original preparation methods. By understanding the difference between beneficial processing and its industrial counterparts, one can make choices that balance health with ease. 

Also read: For Odisha’s Chuktia Bhunjias, preservation by drying is tradition—and sustenance

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