How can you tell if a food is ultra-processed?
Turn the package over and check the ingredient list for one thing a home kitchen doesn’t keep: a sugar like high-fructose corn syrup, dextrose or maltodextrin, a protein isolate like whey, a hydrogenated oil, or a flavor, color, emulsifier, gum or sweetener. One is enough to make it ultra-processed. Paste a list into the checker below to see them light up.
Most people judge by the front of the box: the word “natural”, a picture of a farm, “whole grain”, “organic”, “high protein”. None of those decide the group. The test NOVA’s authors give is a single question about the back of the box, and it takes about ten seconds once you know what to look for.
We’d make this a habit for the few packaged things you buy every week, and skip it for everything else. Once you’ve checked your bread, your yogurt and your cereal, you know your staples, and you won’t need to check them again until you change brands.
It’s like checking the ingredients on a cake you didn’t bake. If you’d need to order something from a specialist supplier to make it at home, it’s ultra-processed.
The example lists show how the checker works and are not any one product. Paste a real label from your cupboard. It stays in this browser.
This list has 3 ingredients a kitchen doesn't keep.
Whole wheat flour, water, , , yeast, soybean oil, salt, , preservatives (, ), , .
- A kitchen doesn't keep it
- A sugar by another name
- A preservative
- Not in our list
Tap any marked word for what it is and why it's there.
- Ingredients
- 12
- Markers
- 3
- Sugar names
- 2
- Preservatives
- 2
The first one is wheat gluten, 3rd on the list. Ingredients run in order of weight, so the one nearest the front is the biggest.
The two kinds of marker
NOVA’s 2019 paper says to “check to see if its list of ingredients contains at least one item characteristic of the ultra-processed food group”. Those items come in two kinds:
| Kind | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Food substances kitchens rarely use | High-fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin, dextrose, invert sugar, fructose, lactose, fruit juice concentrate, hydrogenated or interesterified oil, whey protein, casein, soy protein isolate, gluten, hydrolyzed protein |
| Cosmetic additives | Any flavor (natural or artificial), color, flavor enhancer like monosodium glutamate, emulsifier like lecithin or mono- and diglycerides, gum or other thickener, sweetener like sucralose or stevia extract |
What doesn’t count
- Sugar, salt, oil, butter, honey and vinegar. They’re kitchen ingredients, however much there is.
- Preservatives on their own. NOVA’s authors allow them in processed foods too.
- Added vitamins and minerals. They don’t make a food ultra-processed.
- “Organic”. Organic cane sugar is a kitchen ingredient, and organic natural flavor is still a flavor.
- Garlic powder, onion powder and spices. The FDA counts these as food, listed by name, and they aren’t flavorings.
Three things that help
- Ingredients run in order of weight (FDA), so a marker near the front is a bigger part of the food than one near the end.
- The 2025 to 2030 US guidelines give a shortcut for sugar: anything with “sugar” or “syrup” in the name, or ending in “-ose”. Some of those, like cane sugar and honey, are kitchen ingredients, and some, like high-fructose corn syrup and dextrose, are NOVA markers. All of them count as added sugar.
- Brackets count. “Chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate, soy lecithin)” puts soy lecithin in the food.
What we’d do
- Check your five most-bought packaged foods this week, with the label checker if it’s easier.
- Practice on ten rounds of spot the ultra-processed.
- Learn the long version in how to read a label in ten seconds.
5 sources
- Monteiro et al., Ultra-processed foods: what they are and how to identify them, Public Health Nutrition, 2019pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Monteiro et al., NOVA. The star shines bright, World Nutrition, 2016worldnutritionjournal.org
- US Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025 to 2030cdn.realfood.gov
- US Food and Drug Administration, Food labeling: spices, flavorings, colorings and chemical preservatives, 21 CFR 101.22ecfr.gov
- US Food and Drug Administration, Food labeling: designation of ingredients, 21 CFR 101.4ecfr.gov
