UPF consumption summary
- UPFs have triggered a backlash in recent years
- Nevertheless, UPF consumption remains high, and decline has been negligible
- Taste, price and convenience remain key consumption drivers
- Many consumers don’t know what UPFs are, associating them with “junk food” and “additives”
- Awareness is, however, improving
Ultra-processed foods are one of the most controversial categories in food and beverage today.
Many consumers are cautious, or even outright hostile, towards them, believing that they have a significant potential to harm health. Some institutions, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), share this belief.
However, others have criticised the category as misleading, defined as it is by the Nova classification which is not based on nutritional composition.
While consumers may shrink away from UPFs in theory, recent data shows that in practice, consumption is still high.
Consumption still widespread despite backlash
There is a strong backlash against UPFs, with many consumers distrusting them intensely.
While one might think that such a strong backlash would significantly affect consumption of these foods, UPFs appear to be as popular as ever.
According to Innova Market Insights, the number of consumers globally who say that they “never” eat UPFs has increased by only 1% year-on-year.
Consumers who say that they eat them frequently decreased only by a mere 1-2% as well, explains Mimi Bonnett, senior insights director at Innova.
Price, taste and convenience remain key drivers in the continued consumption of UPFs.
Other research shows, however, that in some markets consumers are avoiding UPFs more frequently. In the UK, for instance, around 19m adults avoid them for health reasons, out of a population of 70m. This is an increase of 15% year-on-year.
This coincides with the rise of scratch cooking as more consumers gravitate towards unprocessed foods.
Consumer confusion over UPFs
Consumers have long been confused about just what UPFs actually are, and it seems that this is still as true as ever. In fact, this is one of the reasons that consumption is so high – many consumers simply don’t know when they’re eating UPFs.
When asked, many say they see UPFs as simply “junk food” or food high in additives, with little knowledge of the Nova classification (the most common way of ascertaining whether or not something is ultra-processed, although there are now several other frameworks for highly processed food). The most common food associated with UPFs is ready meals.
The problem isn’t that consumers don’t know certain foods are bad for their health, but rather they are simply unsure which constitute “ultra-processed”.
Sometimes people’s perception of what is and is not ultra-processed can be dependent on context. Bonnett uses the example of doughnuts: if a doughnut comes in a box, a consumer may be more likely to think of it as ultra-processed than if they’d bought it from a bakery.
However, awareness is improving, Bonnett suggests. “I think what’s happening is two-fold – we have awareness moving the needle in both directions. People are slowly cutting back and responding with more accuracy because they are becoming more aware of their own habits.”
