Processed food classification: Conceptualisation and challenges

Sadler, Christina; Grassby, Terri; Hart, Kathryn; Raats, Monique; Sokolović, Milka; Timotijević, Lada

doi:10.1016/j.tifs.2021.02.059

Cited by 127 publications

(136 citation statements)

References 74 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

126

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In fact, terminology around food processing and usage in policy making is of growing concern [32,33]. Currently, there is no single, accepted standard for classifying a food product's level of processing [34]. Our results support the need for a more comprehensive classification system as well as further work to understand how processing impacts diet-related research and policy.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Deconstructing the Supermarket: Systematic Ingredient Disaggregation and the Association between Ingredient Usage and Product Health Indicators for 24,229 Australian Foods and Beverages

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Unhealthy diets are underpinned by the over-consumption of packaged products. Data describing the ingredient composition of these products is limited. We sought to define the ingredients used in Australian packaged foods and beverages and assess associations between the number of ingredients and existing health indicators. Statements of ingredients were disaggregated, creating separate fields for each ingredient and sub-ingredient. Ingredients were categorised and the average number of ingredients per product was calculated. Associations between number of ingredients and both the nutrient-based Health Star Rating (HSR) and the NOVA level-of-processing classification were assessed. A total of 24,229 products, listing 233,113 ingredients, were included. Products had between 1 and 62 ingredients (median (Interquartile range (IQR)): 8 (3–14)). We identified 915 unique ingredients, which we organised into 17 major and 138 minor categories. ‘Additives’ were contained in the largest proportion of products (64.6%, (15,652/24,229)). The median number of ingredients per product was significantly lower in products with the optimum 5-star HSR (when compared to all other HSR score groups, p-value < 0.001) and significantly higher in products classified as ultra-processed (when compared to all other NOVA classification groups, p-value < 0.001). There is a strong relationship between the number of ingredients in a product and indicators of nutritional quality and level of processing.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 61%

Deconstructing the Supermarket: Systematic Ingredient Disaggregation and the Association between Ingredient Usage and Product Health Indicators for 24,229 Australian Foods and Beverages

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A thorough comparison of the findings from the different studies considered was challenging due to the differences in food classification and to the disparate definitions that were proposed. Descriptions of UPF within the NOVA system vary with distinguishing features including single vs. 2–3 vs. ≥5 more ingredients, or natural/fresh vs. imitation or industrial, and whole foods vs. fractioned substances [ 13 ]. This means that different studies may have classified the same food as UPF or not based on the distinguishing feature used for classifying foods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The criteria used in these types of classification are often ambiguous, only based on a chaotic conception of processing that is not only related to technical processes [ 13 ]. Notably, the dietary habits of different populations may vary widely based on tradition, culture, and individual characteristics; in turn, the consumption of UPF in terms of type and amount may differ across target populations and countries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Systematic Review of Worldwide Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods: Findings and Criticisms

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A debate is ongoing on the significance and appropriateness of the NOVA classification as a tool for categorizing foods based on their degree of processing. As such, the role of ultra-processed food (UPF) on human health is still not completely understood. With this review, we aimed to investigate the actual level of consumption of UPF across countries and target populations to determine the impact in real contexts. Suitable articles published up to March 2021 were sourced through the PubMed and SCOPUS databases. Overall, 99 studies providing data on the level of UPF consumption expressed as the percentage of total energy intake were identified, for a total of 1,378,454 participants. Most of them were published in Brazil (n = 38) and the United States (n = 15), and the 24 h recall was the most-used tool (n = 63). Analysis of the results revealed that the United States and the United Kingdom were the countries with the highest percent energy intake from UPF (generally >50%), whereas Italy had the lowest levels (about 10%); the latter was inversely associated with adherence to the Mediterranean diet. High variability was also observed based on sex, age, and body mass index, with men, young people, and overweight/obese subjects generally having higher levels of consumption compared to older subjects. Overall, our findings underline the large differences in UPF intake. Since most of the observations derived from studies conducted with food questionnaires are not specifically validated for UPF, further efforts are essential to confirm the results previously obtained and to investigate further the association between UPF consumption and health status, also considering the actual contribution within different dietary patterns, which has been less investigated to date.

show abstract

“…Knowing the existing evidence of the negative effect that the consumption of ultra-processed foods has on the different aspects of health [ 26 , 36 , 47 ] and the WHO recommendations to reduce the consumption of this type of food as much as possible, the front-of-pack labelling with Nutri-Score should at least be accompanied by other complementary labelling indicating the level of processing. Several tools are now available that focus on food processing [ 48 ], such as the SIGA classification [ 44 , 49 ], which classifies foods based on the NOVA classification and degree of processing, in addition to other factors. The application of these classifications in a label would allow consumers to know that they are choosing an ultra-processed food, and once the consumer knows this information, they could interpret the nutritional quality of the product through the Nutri-Score.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two Dimensions of Nutritional Value: Nutri-Score and NOVA

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Front-of-pack labels can improve the ability of consumers to identify which foods are healthier, making them a useful public health tool. Nutri-Score is a front-of-pack labelling system adopted by several European countries. This system ranks foods according to their nutritional quality, but does not consider other dimensions such as the degree of food processing. The aim of this study is to compare the nutritional quality (as assessed by Nutri-Score) and the ultra-processing (as assessed by the NOVA classification) of foods in the Open Food Facts database. A simple correspondence analysis was carried out to study the relationship between the two systems. Ultra-processed foods (NOVA 4) were found in all Nutri-Score categories, ranging from 26.08% in nutritional category A, 51.48% in category B, 59.09% in category C, 67.39% in category D to up to 83.69% in nutritional category E. Given the negative effect that the consumption of ultra-processed foods has on different aspects of health, front-of-pack labelling with Nutri-Score should at least be accompanied by complementary labelling indicating the level of processing, such as the NOVA classification.

show abstract

Processed food classification: Conceptualisation and challenges

Cited by 127 publications

References 74 publications

Deconstructing the Supermarket: Systematic Ingredient Disaggregation and the Association between Ingredient Usage and Product Health Indicators for 24,229 Australian Foods and Beverages

Deconstructing the Supermarket: Systematic Ingredient Disaggregation and the Association between Ingredient Usage and Product Health Indicators for 24,229 Australian Foods and Beverages

A Systematic Review of Worldwide Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods: Findings and Criticisms

Two Dimensions of Nutritional Value: Nutri-Score and NOVA

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About