Organic or "natural" packaged food isn't ultra-processed

No. Organic is a rule about how ingredients are grown and which additives are allowed, and NOVA’s test is about what’s on the label. Organic cane sugar is a kitchen ingredient, but organic natural flavor is a flavoring, so an organic granola bar that lists it is group 4. “Natural” on the front of a box changes nothing either.

Why people believe it

Organic and natural foods sit in their own aisle, with earthy packaging and short, friendly words on the front. They cost more. They feel like the opposite of a bag of neon cheese puffs, so it’s easy to assume they’re not ultra-processed.

But NOVA doesn’t look at the front of the box or the price. It asks whether the ingredient list has at least one thing a home kitchen doesn’t keep.

A sweater and its label

An organic cotton sweater is still a sweater. “Organic” tells you how the cotton was grown, and nothing about whether it was knitted by hand or by a machine. Organic food works the same way. The seal is about the farm and the allowed ingredients, and NOVA is about how the food was put together.

What organic rules allow

The USDA keeps a list of non-farm ingredients that can go into food labeled organic, at 7 CFR 205.605. It includes:

• Carrageenan, a thickener from red seaweed
• Xanthan gum, a thickener
• Gellan gum, in its high-acyl form, a thickener
• Flavors, as long as they come from organic or nonsynthetic sources and aren’t made with synthetic solvents, carriers or artificial preservatives

Thickeners and flavors are both on NOVA’s list of cosmetic additives, so any one of them on the label makes a food group 4, organic or not. An organic chocolate milk with carrageenan, an organic oat milk with gellan gum and an organic snack bar with natural flavor are all ultra-processed by NOVA’s test.

“Natural” and “natural flavor”

“Natural” on the front of a package is a marketing word. “Natural flavor” in the ingredient list is a specific ingredient, and NOVA treats every flavoring the same way, whether it’s called natural or artificial. The 2025 to 2030 Dietary Guidelines single out artificial flavors as something to limit, but NOVA makes no such distinction.

What does “natural flavors” mean? explains how they’re made.

The best case for the belief

Organic rules do keep a lot out. Synthetic flavors aren’t allowed, and every non-farm ingredient has to be on the USDA’s list. If you care about synthetic additives specifically, an organic label is a reasonable filter, and the US guidelines do say to limit artificial flavors, petroleum-based dyes and artificial preservatives.

Where it falls short is the part of ultra-processed food the trials measured. On the NIH ward in 2019, people ate 508 more calories a day on ultra-processed meals, most likely because the food was soft, dense and fast to eat. An organic cookie or an organic puffed snack can be every bit as soft and fast as the regular one.

What to do

• Check the ingredient list of organic packaged food the same way as any other. The label checker ignores the word “organic” and checks the ingredient itself.
• Look for the short lists. Organic oats, organic beans and organic peanut butter of peanuts and salt are groups 1 and 3.
• Compare the Nutrition Facts too. Organic sugar is still sugar.