Ultra-processed foods are industrial “ready-to-eat” or “heat-and-eat” products that contain many added ingredients (like emulsifiers, colorings, flavorings, stabilizers) and are very different from how food looks in nature.

What counts as an ultra-processed food?

Common everyday examples include:

  • Packaged sweets: candy, chocolate bars, ice cream, fruit-flavoured yogurts, pre-packaged cookies and biscuits.
  • Salty snacks: potato chips (crisps), sweet or savoury packaged snacks, refined-grain pretzels.
  • Processed meats: hot dogs, ham, bacon, sausages, pepperoni, chicken nuggets, fish sticks.
  • Ready meals and instant foods: frozen French fries, instant noodles or ramen, instant soups, boxed pasta dishes, ready-made frozen meals.
  • Breakfast items: sweetened breakfast cereals, mass-produced packaged breads and buns, cake mixes, baking mixes.
  • Drinks: soft drinks/soda, carbonated drinks, fruit “drinks” without real fruit, energy drinks, some meal-replacement shakes.
  • Spreads and extras: margarines and similar spreads, some packaged sauces, instant gravies.

In short, if a food is mostly made of refined ingredients, comes in a package with a long ingredient list and long shelf life, and looks very unlike any whole food, it’s probably ultra-processed.

Simple rule of thumb

When you look at a label and see lots of items you wouldn’t cook with at home (like maltodextrin, modified starches, gums, artificial flavors, high-fructose corn syrup), that’s a strong sign you’re dealing with an ultra-processed product.

TL;DR:
Ultra-processed foods include things like chips, sweets, soft drinks, instant noodles, processed meats, sweet breakfast cereals, and many ready-made frozen or instant meals—basically, heavily packaged products with many additives rather than simple ingredients.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.