Ultra-processed foods list
Ultra-processed foods are industrial recipes made mostly from refined ingredients and additives you wouldn't use at home. This list shows the most common ones by supermarket aisle, how to recognise them on a label, and simple swaps. To check a specific product, scan its barcode or paste its ingredients.
What counts as ultra-processed?
Scientists use the NOVA classification, created by Carlos Monteiro's team at the University of São Paulo. It sorts every food into four groups by how much industrial processing it went through, not by its calories or nutrients.
| NOVA group | What it is | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Unprocessed or minimally processed | Foods as nature made them, or only cleaned, frozen, dried or pasteurised | Fresh fruit and vegetables, plain oats, eggs, milk, plain yogurt, fresh meat and fish, dried beans |
| 2. Processed culinary ingredients | Extracted from foods and used for cooking | Olive oil, butter, sugar, salt, flour, vinegar |
| 3. Processed foods | Group 1 foods with salt, sugar or oil added | Bakery bread, traditional cheese, canned vegetables, smoked fish, salted nuts |
| 4. Ultra-processed foods | Industrial formulations with ingredients rarely used in kitchens | Soft drinks, packaged snacks, most breakfast cereals, packaged sliced bread, instant noodles, chicken nuggets |
Ultra-processed foods list by aisle
- Drinks: fizzy drinks (regular and diet), energy drinks, flavoured water, fruit drinks and squash, flavoured milk, powdered drink mixes.
- Breakfast: most sweetened breakfast cereals, cereal bars, flavoured instant oats, breakfast biscuits, flavoured yogurts and yogurt drinks.
- Bread and bakery: packaged sliced bread and rolls, wraps, packaged cakes, muffins, pastries, doughnuts, biscuits and cookies.
- Snacks and sweets: crisps and chips, flavoured crackers, chocolate bars, sweets and candy, flavoured popcorn, protein bars.
- Meat, fish and alternatives: sausages, ham, bacon, salami, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, fish fingers, many burgers, most plant-based meat alternatives.
- Ready meals: frozen pizza, microwave meals, instant noodles, instant soups, boxed macaroni and cheese.
- Dairy and desserts: ice cream, flavoured yogurts, processed cheese slices, cheese spreads, packaged desserts, coffee creamers.
- Sauces and spreads: ketchup, mayonnaise, most bottled sauces and dressings, chocolate spreads, margarine, stock cubes.
How to spot an ultra-processed food on the label
- Ingredients you wouldn't find in a home kitchen: glucose or glucose-fructose syrup, maltodextrin, dextrose, invert sugar, hydrolysed protein, protein isolates.
- “Flavourings”, “natural flavours” or “aromas”.
- Cosmetic additives: colours, emulsifiers such as E471 and lecithins, thickeners such as carrageenan, sweeteners such as sucralose and aspartame, and flavour enhancers such as MSG.
- Hydrogenated or interesterified fats.
- A long ingredient list. Length alone doesn't decide it, but most ultra-processed foods have five or more ingredients.
One of these is enough for NOVA to class a food as ultra-processed. The ingredient checker highlights all of them for you, and the additives list explains each E-number.
Less-processed swaps
| Instead of | Try |
|---|---|
| Sweetened breakfast cereal | Plain oats or no-added-sugar muesli with fresh fruit |
| Packaged sliced bread | Bakery bread made from flour, water, salt and yeast |
| Flavoured yogurt | Plain yogurt with fruit |
| Fizzy drinks | Sparkling water with lemon or lime |
| Crisps | Plain nuts, or popcorn made at home |
| Chicken nuggets | Roast or grilled chicken |
| Ketchup | Passata or chopped tomatoes with herbs |
| Chocolate spread | 100% nut butter |
Why it matters
A 2024 umbrella review in The BMJ, covering almost 10 million people, linked higher ultra-processed food intake with 32 health outcomes. The strongest (“convincing”) evidence was for death from cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, anxiety and common mental health disorders. These are associations, not proof of cause, and not every ultra-processed food is equally unhealthy: a wholemeal sliced loaf is a different choice from a fizzy drink. That's why our score also weighs additives and nutrition.
Not all processed food is bad
Frozen vegetables, canned beans, plain yogurt, traditional cheese and bakery bread are processed, but not ultra-processed. They are convenient, affordable and fit a healthy diet.
Questions people ask
Is bread ultra-processed?
It depends on the recipe. Bread made from flour, water, salt and yeast is a processed food (NOVA 3). Most packaged sliced bread adds emulsifiers, preservatives or sugar, which makes it ultra-processed. Check the ingredient list.
Are frozen foods ultra-processed?
Not necessarily. Freezing is minimal processing, so frozen vegetables, fruit and plain fish are NOVA 1. Frozen pizzas, nuggets and ready meals are usually ultra-processed because of their ingredients, not because they are frozen.
Is cheese ultra-processed?
Traditional cheese made from milk, salt, cultures and rennet is a processed food (NOVA 3). Processed cheese slices and spreads made with emulsifying salts and flavourings are ultra-processed.
Is ultra-processed food the same as junk food?
They overlap but aren't the same. Junk food is about nutrition (high sugar, fat or salt). Ultra-processing is about how a food is made. Some ultra-processed foods, like diet drinks, are low in calories, and some unprocessed foods, like honey, are high in sugar.