What Are Ultra-Processed Foods? Examples and How to Spot Them

What counts as ultra-processed food?

Almost every food in a store is processed in some way, so "processed" alone does not tell you much. NOVA, the scale researchers use, sorts foods into four groups by how they are made, not by their nutrients.

• Group 1, unprocessed or minimally processed. whole foods that have only been dried, crushed, ground, roasted, boiled or pasteurized, with nothing added. Fruit, vegetables, eggs, plain milk, oats, plain meat and fish.
• Group 2, processed culinary ingredients. oils, butter, sugar and salt. You cook with them; you do not eat them on their own.
• Group 3, processed foods. group 1 foods with salt, sugar or oil added. Canned vegetables, cheese, simple bread made from flour, water, salt and yeast, salted nuts.
• Group 4, ultra-processed foods. formulations made mostly from substances of industrial use, often with cosmetic additives that make the food look, taste or feel a certain way.

There is no legal definition in the US yet. In July 2025 the FDA and USDA asked the public for data to help write a uniform federal definition, and noted that there is no single, universally accepted one. NOVA is the definition most research uses, and the one this guide follows.

How to tell if a food is ultra-processed

Turn the pack over and read the ingredients, not the front. According to the NOVA researchers, a product is ultra-processed if its ingredient list contains at least one item typical of group 4. Their own example: a bread with emulsifiers or colors is ultra-processed, a bread made only from flour, water, salt and yeast is not.

• Ingredients you would not cook with. high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated or interesterified oils, hydrolyzed proteins, soy protein isolate, gluten, casein and whey protein.
• Cosmetic additives. flavors (including "natural flavors"), flavor enhancers, colors, emulsifiers such as lecithin, emulsifying salts, sweeteners, thickeners, and gelling or glazing agents.
• What does not count on its own. salt, sugar, oil, vitamins added for fortification, and a long list of whole foods. A short list of foods you know is usually NOVA 3 at most.

The test is about how a food is made, not whether it is healthy. A low-sugar, high-protein food can be ultra-processed, and a sugary one can be only processed. That is why Truvi looks at processing and nutrition separately.

Ultra-processed foods examples (and look-alikes that are not)

The NOVA paper lists sodas, sweet or savory packaged snacks, chocolate and candy, ice cream, breakfast cereals, packaged breads and buns, and reconstituted meat products among typical ultra-processed foods. In the CDC data, the biggest sources of ultra-processed calories in the US were sandwiches including burgers, sweet bakery products, savory snacks and sweetened drinks.

Brand matters more than category. These are products we have scored. The first four are not ultra-processed:

• Fairlife 2% Reduced Fat Ultra-Filtered Milk

  NOVA 1

  97Excellent

• 

  Triscuit Hint of Salt Crackers

  NOVA 3 · Photo: macrofactor, CC BY-SA 3.0

  67Good

• 

  Original Cheerios

  NOVA 3 · Photo: zlima12, CC BY-SA 3.0

  60Good

• 

  Larabar Peanut Butter Cookie

  NOVA 3 · Photo: kiliweb, CC BY-SA 3.0

  44Fair

• Fairlife 2% ultra-filtered milk, NOVA 1 on our method, 97 out of 100. filtered milk, the lactase enzyme and vitamins A and D. "Ultra-filtered" sounds like ultra-processed, but filtering only splits the milk into its parts.
• Triscuit Hint of Salt, NOVA 3, 67 out of 100. three ingredients, whole grain wheat, canola oil and sea salt.
• Original Cheerios, NOVA 3, 60 out of 100. whole grain oats, corn starch, sugar, salt and added vitamins and minerals, with no flavors, colors, sweeteners or emulsifiers. So not every breakfast cereal is ultra-processed, though most flavored ones are.
• Larabar Peanut Butter Cookie, NOVA 3, 44 out of 100. dates and peanuts with a little salt. Not ultra-processed, but 16 g of sugar from the dates per bar, which is why its score is middling.

And these four are ultra-processed (NOVA 4):

• 

  IQ Bar Chocolate Sea Salt

  NOVA 4 · Photo: macrofactor, CC BY-SA 3.0

  61Good

• 

  Kirkland Signature Cookies & Cream Protein Bar

  NOVA 4 · Photo: macrofactor, CC BY-SA 3.0

  58Good

• 

  Clif Bar Chocolate Chip Energy Bar

  NOVA 4 · Photo: macrofactor, CC BY-SA 3.0

  33Fair

• 

  Quest Hero Cookies & Cream Protein Bar

  NOVA 4 · Photo: macrofactor, CC BY-SA 3.0

  20Bad

• IQ Bar Chocolate Sea Salt, 61 out of 100. almonds come first, but the label also has pea protein crisps, natural flavors and stevia.
• Kirkland Signature Cookies & Cream protein bar, 58 out of 100. milk and whey protein isolates, erythritol, natural flavors, stevia and sunflower lecithin.
• Clif Bar Chocolate Chip, 33 out of 100. organic oats come first, but soy protein isolate and natural flavors make it NOVA 4. It also has 17 g of sugar per bar.
• Quest Hero Cookies & Cream, 20 out of 100. protein isolates, three sweeteners, palm kernel oil, lecithin and carrageenan.

Notice that the IQ Bar, which is ultra-processed, scores higher than the Larabar, which is not. Processing is one part of the picture. A food can be made simply and still be high in sugar or saturated fat.

Why are ultra-processed foods bad for you?

Most of the evidence comes from observational studies, which follow what people eat and what happens to them over years. A 2024 umbrella review in the BMJ pulled together 45 meta-analyses covering about 9.9 million people. Higher intake of ultra-processed food was linked to many worse outcomes, and the evidence was rated convincing for deaths from cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, anxiety and common mental disorders (Lane et al., 2024). Observational studies show links, not proof of cause, and the review rated most of the evidence as low or very low quality.

One small controlled trial tested the effect directly. At the NIH Clinical Center, 20 adults ate an ultra-processed diet for 2 weeks and an unprocessed diet for 2 weeks, with meals matched for calories, sugar, salt, fat and fiber on the plate, and could eat as much as they wanted. On the ultra-processed diet they ate about 508 more calories a day and gained about 0.9 kg; on the unprocessed diet they lost about 0.9 kg (Hall et al., 2019). That is one short study in 20 people, but it points to a simple mechanism: these foods are easy to eat a lot of, quickly.

How to eat fewer ultra-processed foods without a new diet

• Swap within the same shelf. crackers, cereal and bars all come in NOVA 3 versions. Plain Triscuits and Original Cheerios are examples from the same aisles as their ultra-processed neighbors.
• Watch the flavored version. the plain product is often processed and the flavored one ultra-processed, because flavors and colors are what get added.
• Start with the biggest sources. sandwiches and burgers, sweet bakery products, savory snacks and sweetened drinks are where most ultra-processed calories come from in the US.
• Do not judge by the front of the pack. "organic", "high protein", "low sugar" and "natural" say nothing about processing. The Clif Bar is mostly organic and still NOVA 4.

Truvi does the label check for you: scan a barcode and it shows the NOVA group, the ingredients that put the food there, and a better-scoring option from the same shelf. The Truvi score (our method) is an opinion from the label that blends processing, nutritional quality and how easy the food is to overeat.

Questions people ask