Heightened Concerns over Ultra-processed Foods are shifting the Shopping Behaviour of millions of UK consumers

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are dominating the headlines in the food media and increasingly a concern for consumers as one survey reveals 3m UK consumers have started avoiding them in the last 3 months.

In the UK Dr Chris van Tulleken’s book ‘Ultra-Processed People’ has become a bestseller and there has been a 60% increase in searches on Google for UPFs over the last year. Readers of that book will remember one of the stand-out – and deeply unappetising – quotes from Fernanda Rauber, a Brazilian scientist: ‘Most UPF is not food. It’s an industrially produced edible substance.’

UPFs are said to account for 56% of all calories consumed by UK consumers – second highest globally behind only the US at 57% – and way higher than 18% of longer living and less obese Italians. According to the EIT Food Consumer Observatory, 67% of Europeans blame UPFs for the prevalence of obesity, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

And this is beginning to have a marked effect on shopper behaviour, according to a nationally representative survey on UK adults by Levercliff, which suggests that 12.8 million shoppers had changed their diets because of fears over UPFs in February 2024 – up from an already substantial 10.8 million in October 2023.

‘Ultra-processed foods’ have captured the imagination more than ‘HFSS ‘products – products high in fat, sugar or salt – and will doubtless power the trend towards clean label and understandable ingredients. Even if some UPFs might actually have some specific health claims – especially high in fibre bread and cereals for example – with associated gut, metabolic and brain health benefits.

Photo Source: www.bbc.co.uk

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