Essentially, almost every food item that you throw into your trolly has undergone some form of processing. Vegetables are washed before being stacked. Beans are cooked and canned. Dairy is pasteurised and steak is butchered. Ultra-processed foods undergo a lot more treatment before you consume them with a lot more additions. For instance, in an ideal world, a sausage starts its life as a cut of meat, is minced, has a few herbs and spices added and is slipped into a natural casing. That’s processing. An ultra-processed sausage, however, begins as a cut of meat, is minced, receives rice flour, salt, bamboo fibre, mineral salt (451), preservative (223 (sulphites)), thickeners (401, 412), acidity regulators (330, 270), hydrolysed maize protein, dextrose (maize), firming agent (509), vegetable powders (onion, garlic), spice extracts, spices, natural colour (paprika oleoresins), and rosemary extract. It is then piped into a cellulose casing which has undergone its own ultra-processing journey already. Grim.

As a rule, ultra-processed foods cannot be made in the average household kitchen. Cured meats like ham, salami, mortadella etc may be traditionally made in a fairly simple fashion, whether it be salt-brining, minced, airdried, or smoked – however, the average home cook doesn’t have a stash of sodium or potassium nitrates.

Even when we try to do the right thing by our bodies, there are pitfalls all over the place. Plant-based milks often go through a lot of industrial processing to get from the farm and into your latte, particularly if they require an emulsifier to get that ‘milky’ texture. The additives aren’t always bad for you though, the ingredient list on the bottle will tell you everything you need to know.

This one is a bummer because a cabinet without condiments is a thought too sad to bear, but our favourite sauces are almost always ultra-processed. Many pre-made marinades, stir-fry sauces, ketchup, and pasta sauces undergo intense factory processing before you pick them up. Simple sauces you can replicate by yourself at home such as passata aren’t high on the offender list but a shelf-stable jar of alfredo? We might pass.

In an ideal world, your tub of yoghurt would just contain milk and cultures. Unfortunately, if you’ve got a thing for flavoured yoghurts, additives like extracts, processed fruit, emulsifiers and thickening agents tip the balance from processed to ultra-processed.

Remember during lockdown when you were briefly a baker? Then you’ll also remember that your lovingly tended loaf went stale in a day or mouldy in three. Most mass-produced breads are also ultra-processed, with all sorts of additives like modified starch, vegetable gums and preservatives to keep it fresher for longer.