Unhealthy processed food

Over-refined food
Ultra-processed foods

Nature

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are ready-to-eat-or-heat industrial formulations made with ingredients extracted from foods or synthesised in laboratories. These have gradually been replacing traditional foods and meals made from fresh and minimally processed ingredients in many countries.

Consumption of UPFs is associated with many disease outcomes, such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, some cancers and other diseases, and it represents a significant cause of preventable and premature deaths.

Background

Examples of UPFs are prepackaged soups, sauces, frozen pizza, ready-to-eat meals, hot dogs, sausages, sodas, ice cream and store-bought cookies, cakes, candies and doughnuts.

Incidence

Increased consumption of ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) was associated with more than 10% of all-cause premature, preventable deaths in Brazil in 2019. The study found that approximately 57,000 deaths in one year could be attributed to the consumption of UPFs – 10.5% of all premature deaths and 21.8% of all deaths from preventable noncommunicable diseases in adults aged 30 to 69. Across all age groups and sex strata, consumption of UPFs ranged from 13% to 21% of total food intake in Brazil during the period studied.

Claim

The processed food industry relies on treating humans as interchangeable parts within a system. Fast food is less a collection of convenient eateries and more a meticulously engineered extraction machine that sustains itself by consuming a steady diet of vulnerable human “inputs” to keep the system running: children targeted by “cradle-to-grave” marketing and hazardous night-shift labour; service workers and immigrants facing injuries on slaughterhouse floors; independent ranchers (farmers), now functioning as quasi-indentured labour under monopoly power; and the low-income families trapped in areas with a high concentration of unhealthy food outlets.

Ultimately, the industry thrives by externalising its “true cost”. The silent taxpayer is left to pick up the multi-billion-dollar bill for both the welfare subsidies of underpaid workers and the chronic disease epidemics. The trauma and physical toll on workers eventually lands right back in the lap of the public health system.