Would you recognize ultra-processed foods?

Ultra-processed
ยท
March 8, 2024

The EIT - European Institute of Innovation and Technology Food Consumer Observatory has recently published a survey of 10,000 consumers from 17 countries (no less!) to gather consumer perception on ultra-processed food. ย ๐Ÿฟ ๐ŸŒฝ ๐Ÿฉ ๐Ÿฅซ ๐Ÿฅ™

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๐Ÿ’ก Amongst ๐— ๐—”๐—ก๐—ฌ interesting findings, we have picked 3 highlights demonstrating how ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ด๐—น๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐—ถ๐—ณ๐˜† ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฑ and the importance of which:

(1๏ธ) "Most Europeans believe that UPF contribute to obesity, diabetes and other lifestyle-related health issues (๐Ÿฒ๐Ÿณ%) and that they will cause health issues later in life (๐Ÿฒ๐Ÿฑ%)" - that's the relatively good news, one assumes "informed choice".

(2๏ธ) ย [only] ๐Ÿฒ๐Ÿญ% identified energy beverages as ultra-processed... and the is the category with the most (๐Ÿฒ๐Ÿญ%!) correct identification. ๐Ÿฐ๐Ÿญ% believe raw eggs are processed...

(3๏ธ) It gets worse: "Young Europeans (18-34) are more likely than older Europeans (35-54 and 55+) to say that they eat UPF on a daily basis." so the trend does not seem promising for future generations.

๐Ÿ‘‰ Full study here.

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โ€While there are potential areas of lack of consensus on UPF definition, a large majority are clear calls, and it seems they are not always properly identified by consumers.

Side note: this is a blatant demonstration of how far out of touch we (especially city folks) have grown from the farming & agriculture industry.

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Beyond this, to a large extent the UPF definition debate is down to the fact that ๐—ก๐—ข๐—ฉ๐—” ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ฟ "๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต ๐—ถ๐—ป" ๐—ป๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜. This is why the GoCoCo scoring system uses a combination of 3 criteria:

(i) WHO

(ii) NOVA

(iii) Chilean "high in" labeling.

It's by no means binary, so we built it on a scale.

๐Ÿ‘‰ Learn more here.

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๐Ÿ’ฌ Feel free to comment, agree, disagree, provide further details on these topics here.

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