The Environmental Impact of Ultra-Processed Foods

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are notorious for their detrimental effects on health. But what about their impact on the environment? Let’s delve into the less savoury side of these culinary culprits.

UPFs – biscuits, chicken nuggets and sugary drinks – aren’t exactly nature’s finest. They’re concocted in factories and are often devoid of any real food substance, thanks to heavy industrial processing and numerous unrecognisable additives. They are made using industrial processing methods, including moulding, chemical modification and hydrogenation, which turns liquid unsaturated fat into a more solid form.

Palm oil and soy play key roles in many UPFs, but their production comes at a steep environmental cost. Palm oil’s notorious for its role in deforestation, while soy cultivation contributes to habitat destruction and biodiversity loss. The world’s most consumed vegetable oil, palm oil is found in half of our food.

The manufacturing process of UPFs is a greenhouse gas gala. Energy-intensive production methods from the multi-layered processes and extensive supply chains – the food miles involved in moving ingredients to processing plants and back out again to shops and supermarkets – result in substantial carbon emissions.

High-fructose corn syrup, a common UPF ingredient, is a double-edged sword. Its role as a stand-in for sugar has been linked to the obesity epidemic we face – it takes your body more steps to break down fructose than glucose – and its production involves significant resource consumption, including nitrogen fertilisers and pesticides, leading to environmental pollution and health hazards. It uses more pesticide than any other food crop, causing chemical runoffs into groundwater, alongside huge amounts of oil and natural gas to make these chemicals. It’s linked to obesity, high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes.

And let’s not forget the plastic predicament. UPFs often come swathed in plastic packaging, contributing to the global plastic pollution crisis. These plastics persist in the environment, harming wildlife and ecosystems. If you’re fed up of the litter labyrinths in our neighbourhoods, you might have noticed that the plastic packaging is often from UPFs. From streets to seas, their plastic footprint is hard to ignore.

The bottom line? UPFs aren’t just bad for our health; they’re also detrimental to the environment. It’s time to rethink our consumption habits and opt for more sustainable alternatives – for real food, made from ingredients we recognise – for the sake of both our wellbeing AND the planet.