This:



Part of the problem really is that the definition of UPF is extremely lengthy and includes all kinds of descriptors that may or may not mean they're truly ultra processed. Certain aspects of the definition encompass many unprocessed or minimally processed foods and culinary ingredients.

For instance if I buy an English cucumber from the Amish farm stand down the road, those are wrapped in plastic. They do that because the skin is very delicate on English cucumbers, and the plastic wrap helps maintain the proper moisture levels while sitting on their farm stand on a hot summer day.

But they don't have one of the other indicators of a UPF: A label.

However, if I buy an English cucumber at a grocery store, it will also be wrapped in plastic, and have a label on it.

Same kind of cucumber - and only a very slight difference in UPF packaging indicators, but aside from the timeline between when it was picked and purchased, the same thing.

They also sell home baked goods at the Amish farm stand - They're made the same as if you'd baked them in your own kitchen from the same culinary ingredients, but things like cookies are arranged on a Styrofoam tray, wrapped in plastic, and include a handwritten label with the name of the baked good.

They're not made in a factory though - even though they may make enough of them that it's essentially an in-home factory process.

Some Amish even have huge power-mixing vats for the baked products they make to sell. (They're powered either by solar panels or by a diesel powered generator.)

I know of one Amish in-home factory set up that uses a factory style power-mixing vat (✅) to make whoopie pie cream filling (a fluffy frosting type product). They sell it in plastic buckets(✅) that have a label (✅) on the lid, complete with ingredient list, their business name, and their address. This ticks several boxes for what constitutes a UPF, but it's not intended to be a food that's eaten as-is (so not considered to be UPF). It's expected that you'll bake your own whoopie pie "cookies" from scratch (not UPF) using culinary ingredients, then use that filling between the cookies. It's essentially a UPF product made from typical UPF culinary ingredients (crisco type shortening, artificial vanilla flavoring, and powdered sugar) using factory style machinery, that you use to make a "homemade" (not UPF) product. All the ingredients are culinary ingredients that you would have found in most typical kitchens, even 50 years ago.

Oh and they are extremely addictive - which should make them obviously UPF.

That's just one set of the many problems with the UPF descriptors that creates even more confusion when it comes to what constitutes a UPF.





The "fuzzy definition" is a big part of the problem. There are foods that are pretty obviously UPF, but because they're made from typical culinary ingredients, but just happen to be made in a factory, packaged in plastic, and have a label, they're considered UPF. You're going to have companies insist that their product that ticks a dozen boxes that indicate what they're making is UPF - but because they're making it in small batches or it's made with "clean" ingredients, it's not a UPF.