Glossary

A food classification developed at the University of Sao Paulo that sorts food by degree of industrial processing rather than by nutrient content. It has four groups and no score, no total and no ranking.

It is the system this whole site uses. It describes manufacturing and is silent on nutrition by construction.

An industrial formulation made mostly or entirely from substances extracted from foods, derived from food constituents, or synthesised. The distinction from a processed food is one of kind: it is assembled from ingredients rather than made from a food.

Group 4. One marker is generally enough to place a product here.

A substance that lets oil and water stay mixed when they would otherwise separate. Egg yolk is the oldest one in any kitchen. In manufacturing they hold a crumb together, stop a sauce splitting, or keep chocolate smooth.

A group 4 marker. Its presence is the single commonest reason an otherwise ordinary product is ultra-processed, and it is why most sliced bread is group 4.

The most widely used emulsifier in European food manufacturing. Made from fats, which may be plant or animal in origin, and the label rarely says which. It appears in bread, ice cream, margarine and chocolate.

A group 4 marker.

Starch that has been treated physically, chemically or enzymatically so it behaves differently: thickening when cold, surviving freezing, or holding texture through reheating. It is not genetically modified, which is a common confusion caused by the word.

A group 4 marker. It is the reason most ready meals are group 4, because reheating evenly is what it solves.

A powder made by breaking starch down into shorter chains. Used as a bulking agent, a carrier for flavourings, and to add body without sweetness.

A group 4 marker. It is a substance derived from a food rather than a food.

Protein extracted from a food and separated from almost everything else it came with. Used to raise the protein content of a product without changing its bulk.

A group 4 marker, and the usual reason a high-protein yoghurt or a protein bar is ultra-processed.

A substance that holds water in a product so it stays soft rather than drying out. Common in cereal bars, cakes and anything expected to feel fresh weeks after it was made.

A group 4 marker.

A preparation added to give or change taste and smell. Legally distinct from an ingredient: 'flavouring' on a label does not mean the food it tastes of is present.

A group 4 marker. It is why most flavoured crisps are group 4 and plain salted ones are not.

A substance that intensifies a taste already present rather than adding one of its own. MSG was isolated from seaweed broth in 1908 and is the best known.

A group 4 marker.

A bread-making method developed in Hertfordshire in 1961 that replaces hours of fermentation with intense mechanical mixing, cutting production to roughly three hours and allowing lower-protein wheat to be used. Most British supermarket bread is made this way.

The method itself is not a marker. The emulsifiers and improvers it needs to work are, which is why most sliced bread is group 4.

Adding vitamins or minerals to a food that did not contain them, or restoring ones lost in processing. In the UK, white and brown flour must legally be fortified with calcium, iron and two B vitamins.

A group 4 marker under NOVA, which catches people out. It is a good illustration of why the classification is not a nutrition judgement: fortification exists for public health reasons and NOVA is silent on whether it is a good idea.

Salts that let cheese melt smoothly without the fat and protein separating. They are what makes a processed cheese slice behave the way it does.

A group 4 marker, and the reason processed slices and spreads are ultra-processed where a block of cheddar is not.

A substance providing sweetness with little or no energy, used in place of sugar. Some are synthesised, some are extracted from plants; NOVA treats them the same way.

A group 4 marker. It is why reduced-sugar versions of a product are frequently ultra-processed when the standard version is not.

A VAT category, not a food category. Most food in the UK carries no VAT, with exceptions including confectionery, savoury snacks, soft drinks and ice cream. A receipt marks the standard-rated lines.

Nothing. VAT marks correlate loosely with ultra-processed lines and are not the same thing, which is a mistake worth not making when reading a receipt.