Processed food is everywhere鈥攁nd chances are, you're eating more of it than you think. In this episode of Unfold, we go beyond the ingredient list to uncover the science and public perceptions of processed and ultra-processed foods. Are these foods addictive by design, unsafe or just misunderstood? With insights from food scientists and cultural experts, we鈥檒l examine how modern food manufacturing may be shaping our health, our public policy and even our understanding of what food is.
In this episode:
- professor and food chemist, 完美体育 Department of Food Science and Technology
- , professor in 完美体育 Departments of Food Science and Technology and American Studies
Read our In Focus story: 鈥What to Know About Processed and Ultra-Processed Foods.鈥&苍产蝉辫;
Learn more about processed foods from nutritionists and food scientists in our 鈥鈥 article.
Read Biltekoff鈥檚 latest book,
Transcript
Transcribed using A.I. May contain errors.
Amy Quinton
All right, Kat, let's go shopping.
Kat Kerlin
Let's do it.
Amy Quinton
Kat and I are visiting our local grocery store. It's the perfect place to learn about processed foods. So to me, when I think of processed foods, I think center of the grocery, the stuff that's usually in boxes and packages, and isn't like dairy and meat and fruits?
Kat Kerlin
Yeah, like we're looking at apples and bananas, and I'm thinking, this is not the aisle for us if we're looking for processed foods.
Amy Quinton
But we're gonna go shopping just see, just see what we know and what we don't know.
Kat Kerlin
Yes, I see a big wall of orange boxes that look very promising. That big ball of orange boxes was the mac and cheese.
Amy Quinton
Yep, and the mashed potatoes,
Kat Kerlin
Four cheese mashed potatoes in a packet?
Amy Quinton
Dried potatoes. Do people actually eat this stuff?
Kat Kerlin
I lived on that when I was in college.
Kat Kerlin
Yeah, not proud.
Amy Quinton
You're kidding.
Amy Quinton
Well the first ingredient is potatoes. So that's promising.
Kat Kerlin
You're trying to make me feel better. I appreciate it.
Amy Quinton
I don't think I've ever met anyone who's eating dried potatoes unless they're like hiking.
Kat Kerlin
You know, I mean, they were really fast to make, and they filled me up and they cost, like, $1 or something. So fast and cheap and easy kind of did it for me when I was 20.
Amy Quinton
Yeah, I mean, I was all about mac and cheese and ramen. Yeah.
Kat Kerlin
Yeah, Still am.Some days.
Amy Quinton
Comfort food.
Kat Kerlin
Totally. So yeah, chances are you eat processed foods. Most Americans do. Studies have found that between 60 and 70% of American diets are comprised of highly processed or ultra processed food. It makes sense, right? Like, if it's cheap, convenient and pretty delicious, we Americans tend to like it.
Amy Quinton
Yeah, I probably sounded a bit judgmental there, but those dried mashed potatoes had a lot of ingredients that weren't potatoes. Cheese, cultures, vegetable oil, sunflower coconut oil,
Kat Kerlin
Annato extract,
Amy Quinton
dried corn syrup, mono and diglycerides, natural flavors, whatever those are. So it's got preservatives in it, citric acid. I still don't know what mono and diglycerides are.
Kat Kerlin
I can't help you. Actually, Amy, those dried mashed potatoes probably had half the number of ingredients of some of the chips we came across. We are in the chip aisle. There's an explosion of colors.
Amy Quinton
Oh, look at those Doritos. Flaming hot, Cool Ranch.
Kat Kerlin
It's very orange. It's very, very spicy Dorito. So people love this stuff right now. Oh, my gosh. It's like a whole paragraph of ingredients. Oh, maybe I'll just cut to all of the artificial colors in it. Red 40 lake, yellow 6 lake, yellow 6, yellow 5, blue 1, red 40.
Amy Quinton
I didn't know there were that many numbers,
Kat Kerlin
I didn't either
Amy Quinton
And it also had MSG, monosodium glutamate. That's a flavor enhancer.
Kat Kerlin
Yep, makes you want more. Doritos are clearly an ultra-processed food.
Amy Quinton
And what's the difference between processed and ultra-processed, you might ask.
Kat Kerlin
And are all these foods unhealthy for you? Should they be banned?
Amy Quinton
Should they be banned in public schools? These are all really good questions.
Kat Kerlin
So in this episode of Unfold, we're going to examine processed and ultra-processed foods in our first chapter.
Amy Quinton
And in the second chapter of this episode, we'll talk to an expert about why this topic ignites such contentious debate between the public and the food industry. Coming to you from 完美体育, this is Unfold. I'm Amy Quinton
Kat Kerlin