Feature Ultra-processed foods & a plant-based diet: What you actually need to know

The UPF debate is everywhere right now. Keen to cut through the noise and the ingredients list? Here’s what “ultra-processed” foods actually mean for plant-based eaters.

If you’re vegan, vegetarian, or plant-curious, you’re already making food choices that benefit animals, the planet, and your health. But lately, a two-word label has been cropping up everywhere and generating a lot of unnecessary anxiety, particularly among plant-based eaters.

The concept of “ultra-processed” foods is having a big cultural moment, and if it’s had you second-guessing some of your favourite products, you’re not alone!

While it’s true that many popular vegan foods fall under the “ultra-processed” banner, the reassuring news is that their labels are far more complicated (and far less damning) than most media coverage would suggest.

To understand why, it helps to start with what “ultra-processed” actually means — and, even more importantly, what it doesn’t.

Where does the term “ultra-processed foods” come from?

“Ultra-processed” isn’t a term you’d find on a nutrition label. It comes from a food classification framework called NOVA, developed by researchers at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. Now the most widely used system of its kind, NOVA categorises foods by the nature, extent, and purpose of their processing, rather than by their nutritional content. It’s a useful lens, though as we’ll see, not a perfect one.

NOVA Group 1 covers unprocessed or minimally processed foods like fresh fruit, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. Group 2 covers processed culinary ingredients, including olive oil, flour, salt, and vinegar — things typically used in cooking but not eaten on their own. Group 3 covers processed foods such as canned chickpeas, tinned tomatoes, pickled vegetables, artisan breads, and cheese, where simple preservation or fermentation is involved.

And then there’s Group 4, ultra-processed foods (UPFs), which is what all the fuss is about!

UPFs are industrial formulations made mostly from substances extracted from foods — like protein isolates, modified starches, and refined oils — combined with additives you wouldn’t find in a home kitchen, like emulsifiers, flavours, colourings, and stabilisers.

Some may have salt, sugar, or saturated fat added during processing, or be stripped of fibre, and it’s these nutritional properties that make some UPFs concerning.

Think soft drinks, packaged snack foods, flavoured yoghurts, breakfast cereals, fast food, and processed meats like hot dogs and salami. And yes, many plant-based meat alternatives, fortified plant milks, vegan cheeses, and meat-free convenience meals are also considered UPFs.

Is the UPF label actually useful for assessing nutritional value?

Here’s the catch — the NOVA system classifies foods by how they’re made, not by what’s in them nutritionally. That’s why the UPF category contains both a can of Coke and a bottled green smoothie, a fast food burger and a slice of wholegrain bread with hummus, a bag of chips and a bowl of Weetbix.

The NOVA system groups all these “ultra-processed” foods under one label, which is exactly why critics argue it’s too blunt an instrument for making nuanced health judgements about specific foods.

Even fortifying a food with vitamins and minerals, something many dietitians actively encourage, can trigger an “ultra-processed” classification under NOVA. Plant milks enriched with calcium and B12, or plant-based meats boosted with iron and zinc, can end up labelled as UPFs partly because someone tried to make them more nutritious — and that’s a limitation of the labelling system, not an indictment of the food.

NOVA was designed to help us understand dietary patterns on a population level, not to evaluate individual products, so using it to make blanket judgements about specific foods — as many headlines do — stretches it well beyond its intended purpose.

So how do plant-based meats stack up?

The ingredients that typically push plant-based meat alternatives into UPF territory include protein isolates (like soy or pea protein), plant-based binders like methylcellulose (a natural fibre derived from plant cells), emulsifiers to help oil and water mix smoothly, natural colourings from sources like beetroot or paprika, and added nutrients like iron, B12, or zinc.

These are everyday, functional ingredients — the same kinds used across mainstream food production — chosen specifically to replicate the taste, texture, and nutrition of meat, without the ethical, environmental, or public health costs of raising and slaughtering animals.

It’s also worth establishing that conventional meat products like sausages, burgers, bacon, deli slices, and hot dogs are also NOVA Group 4 UPFs, with their own array of additives, preservatives, and processing aids. This often gets overlooked in media coverage, which tends to single out plant-based products while treating processed animal meats as a neutral baseline.

Science shows plant-based meat is healthier than animal meat

A landmark study by The George Institute for Global Health analysed the nutritional profiles of plant-based meats and conventional animal meats across the Australian market (comparing burgers to burgers, sausages to sausages, and so on), and the results were striking.

Plant-based meat alternatives came out on top in almost every category, boasting 50% less saturated fat and 22% less sodium than their animal meat counterparts on average, along with comparable or higher protein, and the added benefit of dietary fibre, which is not found at all in animal meat. The plant-based options also scored higher Health Star Ratings than animal meat across five out of six product categories.

A large-scale review published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, covering 53 years of research, reinforced these findings, concluding that plant-based meat alternatives are more heart-healthy than animal meat.

And then, there’s this piece of irrefutable data: Processed red meat is classified by the World Health Organisation as a Group 1 carcinogen (“carcinogenic to humans”), and red meat more broadly as a Group 2A carcinogen (“probably carcinogenic”). Plant-based meats carry no such classification.

Warning people off plant-based meats purely on the basis of their UPF classification is a bit like warning people off salads because hot chips are also “vegetables”. Same label, completely different story!

When researchers look at plant-based alternatives specifically — rather than lumping them in with things like bacon, fried chicken, energy drinks, and donuts — the picture changes considerably.

What about other plant-based foods, like vegan milk, butter & cheese?

While plant-based meats get most of the UPF headlines, fortified plant milks, vegan cheeses, flavoured coconut yoghurts, vegan ice creams, and many meat-free convenience meals all qualify as ultra-processed under NOVA criteria, too. So what should we make of them?

The same principles apply as with plant-based meats. The UPF label alone doesn’t tell us whether a food is harmful or beneficial — we have to look at what’s actually in it and what it’s replacing in our diet.

Fortified oat milk, for instance, lands in NOVA Group 4 partly because of added calcium, B12, and vitamin D — nutrients that are actively beneficial. Compared to cow’s milk, it’s also lower in saturated fat and carries none of the hormonal or antibiotic-related concerns associated with dairy production. The “ultra-processed” label here obscures more than it reveals.

Vegan cheeses are more of a mixed bag nutritionally. While some artisanal, nut-based options are closer to whole foods than to processed products, many commercial brands are high in sodium and saturated fat from coconut oil, and lower in protein than their dairy counterparts. These options are probably best treated as an occasional food rather than a dietary staple, much the same way most people treat dairy-based cheese.

The broader point is that the healthfulness of any vegan UPF depends on its actual nutritional profile, what it’s replacing, and how much of it you’re eating — not on its NOVA classification alone.

A diet heavy in vegan packaged snacks, sugary plant-based desserts, and heavily processed convenience foods won’t deliver the health benefits of a whole-food plant-based diet, regardless of how ethically sound the ingredient list is. But that same observation applies to any dietary pattern, plant-based or not — it’s about the overall picture, not any single product.

Practical tips for picking healthy plant-based products

Not all plant-based products are made equal nutritionally, which means there’s a lot of room to make choices that work for you. Some products, like plain tempeh, simple tofu-based dishes, falafels, and legume-based patties, don’t qualify as UPFs at all and sit comfortably in NOVA Group 3. Others (like vegan ‘beef’ burgers, mince, or ‘chicken’ strips) are more heavily processed, but still nutritionally strong.

For any plant-based products you’re weighing up, a quick check of the label is your friend. Nutritionists suggest looking for a Health Star Rating of 3.5 or above, sodium in the 120-400mg per 100g range, and at least 4g of fibre per 100g. Those three easy rules of thumb will reliably steer you toward products that do the most nutritional heavy lifting.

The bottom line on plant-based ultra-processed foods

“Ultra-processed” is a useful concept, not a definitive health verdict — and understanding what it actually means will make you a much more informed, confident eater who can see the full picture.

Many vegan and non-vegan staples fall into the UPF category, but the label only tells you about how something was made, not about whether it’s good or bad for you. What matters is the actual nutritional profile, what it’s replacing, and where it sits within your overall diet.

For plant-based meats specifically (the most scrutinised category), the evidence is consistent and reassuring. As a direct swap for conventional animal meat, they come out ahead on almost every meaningful health metric, as they’re lower in saturated fat, higher in fibre, better for your heart, and free from the carcinogenic classification that hangs over processed and red meat.

Beyond the nutritional wins, these products serve a real purpose — making plant-based eating more accessible, social, and achievable for people at every stage of their food journey, particularly those moving away from animal products.

Try to build your diet around whole plant foods as much as you can, and use vegan convenience foods as the helpful, better-than-the-animal-equivalent tools that they are. And know that you can safely stop second-guessing your grocery trolley every time a new UPF study makes the news. The bigger picture is firmly in your favour!

Want to learn more? Check out our deeper dives into plant-based nutrition, how vegan meat compares to animal meat, and the science-backed benefits of putting more veg on your plate.

As always, when making decisions about your own diet and health, it’s best to seek individualised advice from a qualified health professional or dietitian.