Ultra-processed food is food whose ingredient list contains substances you would never find in a home kitchen, or additives whose job is to make the product taste, look or feel better than its ingredients deserve. That is the working definition used in nutrition research, and it means the category is decided by the label, not by whether a food came in a package.
There are currently two definitions in circulation in the United States, and they do not say the same thing. One comes from nutrition science and one from federal dietary guidance. Most confusion about this topic comes from people quoting one and arguing with someone quoting the other.
The two definitions, side by side
| NOVA classification | Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030 | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it comes from | Nutrition research. Published by Monteiro and colleagues, adopted by the FAO and used in nearly all of the peer-reviewed literature on this subject. | Federal dietary guidance for the United States. |
| What it sorts | Every food, into four groups by extent and purpose of industrial processing. | Names categories of food to avoid. It is not a classification system. |
| How you apply it | Read the ingredient list. One disqualifying ingredient is enough. | Recognize the food type: salty and sweet packaged snacks, products with artificial flavors, dyes, preservatives or non-nutritive sweeteners, and sugar-sweetened beverages. |
| Term used | "Ultra-processed" | "Highly processed" |
| Legal force | None. It is a research tool. | None. The guidance states explicitly that it is not offering a legal definition. |
The 2025-2030 edition is the first time federal dietary guidance has told Americans to avoid highly processed food outright. Its definition of the opposite, real food, is short: foods that are whole or minimally processed and recognizable as food, prepared with few ingredients and without added sugars, industrial oils, artificial flavors or preservatives.
A uniform federal definition is in progress but has not been issued: the FDA and USDA opened a joint request for information on defining ultra-processed foods on July 24, 2025, and as of September 2026 the proposed definition was still under review at the White House, The New York Times reported.
The two definitions mostly agree in practice. A packet of neon cheese puffs fails both. The difference matters at the edges, and the edges are where people actually have questions.
The ten-second test
NOVA's authors published a deliberately simple way to identify an ultra-processed product: check whether the ingredient list contains at least one item from either list below. One is enough.
| Substances rarely or never used in home kitchens | Cosmetic additive classes |
|---|---|
| High-fructose corn syrup, fructose, invert sugar, dextrose, lactose | Flavors, including "natural flavors" |
| Fruit juice concentrate | Flavor enhancers |
| Maltodextrin | Colors |
| Isolated soluble or insoluble fiber added back in | Emulsifiers and emulsifying salts |
| Hydrolysed protein, soy protein isolate, gluten, casein, whey protein | Sweeteners |
| Hydrogenated or interesterified oils | Thickeners |
| Mechanically separated meat | Anti-foaming, bulking, carbonating, foaming, gelling and glazing agents |
This is why the test surprises people. A product can be organic, high in fiber, low in sugar, sold in a health food aisle, and still be ultra-processed, because one line in its ingredient list says "natural flavors." And a product can be shelf-stable, industrially manufactured and sold in a plastic pouch, and not be ultra-processed at all, because nothing was added to it.
The four NOVA groups
| Group | What it is | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Unprocessed or minimally processed | Whole foods, plus processes that preserve them without adding anything: drying, grinding, filtering, roasting, boiling, non-alcoholic fermentation, pasteurization, chilling, freezing, packing. | Fresh and frozen vegetables, plain milk, eggs, dried beans, plain flour, and "fresh or pasteurized fruit or vegetable juices with no added sugar, sweeteners or flavours." |
| 2. Processed culinary ingredients | Substances extracted from group 1 foods and used to cook with. Rarely eaten alone. | Oil, butter, sugar, salt. |
| 3. Processed foods | Group 1 foods with group 2 ingredients added, usually for preservation. | Canned vegetables in brine, fruit in syrup, tinned fish in oil, most fresh bread, simple cheeses. |
| 4. Ultra-processed | Formulations of ingredients, mostly for industrial use, assembled from substances rather than from foods. | Soft drinks, packaged snacks, mass-produced bread, sweetened cereals, reconstituted meat products, instant soups and noodles, most meal-replacement powders. |
Notice that group 1 explicitly includes pasteurization and packaging. This is the point most often lost in popular coverage. Industrial processing and ultra-processing are not the same thing. Freezing broccoli in a factory is group 1. Turning corn into maltodextrin and building a snack around it is group 4.
What "minimally processed" does not mean
It does not mean identical to fresh. Federal guidance asks people to eat vegetables in their original form where they can, prioritizing freshness, and that is a fair thing to ask. A whole raw carrot is not the same experience as a blended one, and nothing in the NOVA classification claims otherwise. What the classification tells you is narrower and still useful: whether anything was added to a food that would not exist in a kitchen. Those are two different questions, and both are worth asking.
Why any of this matters
Because the association with health outcomes is unusually consistent, and because one controlled feeding trial suggests it is not simply a matter of ultra-processed foods being higher in sugar and fat. We covered the evidence, including where it is weak, in what the research actually shows about ultra-processed food and health.
Where to go from here, depending on your question:
- You want to know whether your smoothie counts: are smoothies and blended foods ultra-processed.
- You take a greens powder and want to check the label: are greens powders ultra-processed.
- You want to cut back without adding an hour of cooking: how to eat less ultra-processed food without cooking more.
- You are worried about your kids: how much of your kid's diet is ultra-processed, which covers the 67 percent figure and where it comes from.
- You are checking a specific product we make: is SaladPower ultra-processed.
Frequently asked questions
Is all packaged food ultra-processed?
No. Packaging is not part of either definition. Frozen vegetables, canned beans with no additives, plain yogurt and bagged dried lentils all come in packages and none of them are ultra-processed. What matters is whether substances were added that would not appear in a home kitchen.
Is organic food ever ultra-processed?
Yes, frequently. Organic certification governs how ingredients are grown, not how the product is formulated. An organic cookie made with organic maltodextrin and organic natural flavors is ultra-processed by the NOVA test.
What is the difference between processed and ultra-processed?
Processed foods are whole foods with salt, sugar, oil or similar added, usually to preserve them: canned vegetables, tinned fish, fresh bread, simple cheese. Ultra-processed foods are assembled from substances rather than from foods, and typically contain additives whose only job is to improve taste, color or texture.
Does the government have a legal definition of ultra-processed food?
No. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030 describe categories of highly processed food to avoid, and state explicitly that this is not a legal definition. NOVA is a research classification with no regulatory standing either.
How do I check a product in a store?
Turn it over and read the ingredient list rather than the front of the package or the Nutrition Facts panel. Look for the markers in the table above. One is enough to place a product in group 4.
Sources
- Monteiro CA, Cannon G, Levy RB, et al. Ultra-processed foods: what they are and how to identify them. Public Health Nutrition. 2019;22(5):936-941. doi:10.1017/S1368980018003762
- Monteiro CA, Cannon G, Lawrence M, Costa Louzada ML, Pereira Machado P. Ultra-processed foods, diet quality, and health using the NOVA classification system. Rome: FAO; 2019. Full text (PDF)
- Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030. realfood.gov
- Lane MM, Gamage E, Du S, et al. Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses. BMJ. 2024;384:e077310. doi:10.1136/bmj-2023-077310
- Blum D, Callahan A. "Kennedy Promised Children's Health Reforms. Here's How He Did." The New York Times, September 8, 2026. Read the original article.
- US Food and Drug Administration. "Ultra-Processed Foods." fda.gov. Joint FDA and USDA request for information issued July 24, 2025.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
