Nature Knows Best? Naturalness in the Ultra-Processed Foods Debate

What can an idea like ultra-processed foods (UPFs), which is so appealing and yet so divisive, tell us about the underlying values, fears, and hopes of those involved in the debate? In this essay, we will explore how debates around UPFs intersect with concerns about naturalness in the food system, where naturalness represents a tangled bundle of other associated values. Firstly, this essay offers a definition of ultra-processed foods and explores how these foods are understood both at the level of food formulation and at the level of the food system. Secondly, the essay explores common conceptions of natural food and looks at how the debate around UPFs relates to a widespread preference for naturalness, sometimes referred to as the “naturalness bias”, in food and food systems. In the second half of the essay, three aspects of concerns with UPFs, which are perceived as unnatural, are explored: the question of whether UPFs are bad for us and in what ways; the concern with UPFs as displacing more natural foodstuffs and food systems; and the question of whether UPFs are good or bad for nature and the earth’s ecosystems. Is a more natural food system the answer to our problems? Or does the preference for naturalness, and the dismissal of heavily processed foods, have potentially negative implications for the sustainability of the future food system? Is a better future one that includes the benefits of both natural foods and some heavily processed foods, allowing us to make the most of the earth’s limited natural resources, and provide adequate nutrition for all? These are the questions that underlie the debate around ultra-processed foods, but which are rarely drawn into the light.