Trending dietician and Oxford researcher, wrote in a New York Times op-ed. “It lumps store-bought whole-grain bread and hummus in with cookies, potato chips and soda.” The USDA agrees. In developing the 2025 Dietary Guidelines, the agency concluded that there is limit-ed evidence on the health effects — positive or negative — of ultra-processed foods. In a separate project, the organiza-tion also found that it’s possible to build a healthy diet in which 91% of the calories come from so-called ultra-processed foods. “According to current dietary recommendations, the nutrient content of a food and its place in a food group are more important than the extent to which a food was processed,” USDA Agricultural Research Service Nutritionist Julie Hess said of the finding. Putting the nail in the coffin of the ultra-processed ar-gument, Hess added, “It is possible to eat a low-quality diet even when choosing mostly minimally processed foods. Building a nutritious diet involves more than a consideration of food processing.” The concept of ‘ultra-processed’ is a broad and misleading term that moves focus away from what really matters. —Quorn Foods CEO Marco Bertacca on media re-ports and studies around ultra-processed foods and their health impact. Your trusted technical partner in plant-based meat alternative expertise and ingenuity Alt-Meat February 2025 7
Alt-Meat February 2025: Page 7
