Without food processing, it will be impossible to sustainably feed billions of people a healthy diet. People and the world cannot afford the growing resentment against processing.
The biodiversity is being badly harmed by processed meals. But despite the fact that the effects of current land use and food production techniques on biodiversity have garnered a lot of attention, the significance of ultra-processed meals has largely gone unnoticed.
The production, consumption, and cultivation of traditional foods, cuisines, and diets—which typically consist of mostly fresh and minimally processed foods—are threatened by an increasingly prevalent “globalized diet” characterized by an abundance of branded, ultra-processed food products made and distributed on an industrial scale.
The components used to make ultra-processed foods are typically derived from a small number of high-yielding plant species, such as maize, wheat, soy, and oil seed crops. Animals kept in confinement and fed the same crops are frequently the source of the animal-sourced ingredients included in many ultra-processed foods.
Numerous advantages of processed foods that we soon forget – exist. Iodized salt is just one example; iodine deficiency used to be widespread around the globe, increasing the incidence of stillbirths and miscarriages as well as causing severe IQ declines and impaired cognitive growth. Iodized salt is now consumed by the majority of people worldwide, and many nations have eradicated this shortage. We’ve been able to correct a number of other micronutrient shortages by adding nutrients to food.
Naturally, when people refer to “processed” food, they frequently mean ultra-processed food (UPF). These prepared meals and snacks are made to be more convenient and appetizing, and to have a longer shelf life.
It is true that consuming more food that has undergone extreme processing has been associated with negative health effects. It has been linked to a decrease in the ingestion of vital nutrients as vitamins C, D, and B12. We are more likely to be overweight or obese the more of these foods we consume. As a result, we are more likely to develop diseases including cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. It’s simple to consume too many ultra-processed foods.
The issue with the majority of UPFs is their higher calorie, sugar, and fat content. Additionally, they include less protein and fiber, two nutrients that help us feel full.
However, this is not a natural part of food processing. What corporations put into our food is important. If we demand it, companies can produce better food if they want to.
We must eat far less meat if we hope to achieve our global climate goals, stop deforestation, and safeguard species around the world. Compared to meat, plant foods and animal replacements utilize far less land, produce much less water pollution, and have much smaller carbon footprints. Compared to beef or lamb, the environmental cost can be 10 to 100 times cheaper.
The variety of plant species that are available for human consumption will continue to be under strain due to the extremely rapid rise of ultra-processed foods in human diets. The devastation of agrobiodiversity brought on by ultra-processed foods must be highlighted in upcoming global food systems forums, biodiversity conventions, and climate change conferences, and solutions must be agreed upon. This process requires the participation of relevant politicians at all levels, researchers, professional and civil society organizations, and citizen action groups.
Sources:
1)https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/3/e008269
2)https://www.ift.org/news-and-publications/food-technology-magazine/issues/2022/october/features/should-we-eat-more-processed-foods
3)https://www.reuters.com/technology/processed-food
4)https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/ultraprocessed-foods-what-they-are-and-how-to-identify-them/E6D744D714B1FF09D5BCA3E74D53A185