UPFs: It’s not the Enemy – PNR304
The UPFs panic is back, this time in a courtroom. But science tells a very different story: processing is not the enemy, and industrial food is not the cause of our health crisis. This brief unpacks the data and the ideology behind the narrative.
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UPFs: It’s not the Enemy
WHAT HAPPENED A US judge has allowed a lawsuit against major food companies, accusing them of contributing to obesity and cardiovascular disease in so-called ultra-processed foods (UPFs).
- The charge: using “unhealthy” ingredients.
PAGANINI NON RIPETE 303: BEYOND THE LABEL
UPFs: AN ARTIFICIAL NARRATIVE UPFs are an evocative label, and that is precisely the problem.
- They are not a scientifically coherent category.
- They are defined mainly by the number of ingredients and the degree of processing, criteria so vague and elastic that, under this framework, almost any packaged product becomes “ultra-processed”.
Apply the same logic consistently and many home-cooked meals would fall into the same category.
The alleged causal link between processing and disease? It has not been demonstrated.
- Because it cannot be: “processing” is not a biological mechanism. It is a technological concept.
AGAINST TECHNOLOGY Thus the narrative has shifted. Rather than focusing on processing, critics now target “industrial ingredients“, described as chemical or artificial, and therefore harmful, regardless of dose, context, dietary pattern, or frequency of consumption.
This is scientifically unsound.
- The evidence cited to support these claims rests on weak associations, poor confounder control, and methodological limitations that do not justify causal conclusions.
- Yet the narrative spreads, precisely because its simplicity is more seductive than the complexity of real nutrition science.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT The anti-industrial storyline works. It offers a simple villain. It shifts responsibility from the individual to the system. And more and more governments, media, and advocacy groups are embracing this posture, conveniently avoiding the hard work: education, critical tools, and prevention. But the real world is more complex, and far less convenient.
WHAT THE EVIDENCE ACTUALLY SHOWS Science-based, well-regulated industrial food is not the enemy. It is one of the pillars of modern nutrition:
• Safety
• Accessibility
• Stable nutrients
• Lower waste
• Quality standards
• Innovation
Processing is the reason millions can access safe, varied food every day. It is also the reason agriculture survives.
• Safety
• Accessibility
• Stable nutrients
• Lower waste
• Quality standards
• Innovation
Processing is the reason millions can access safe, varied food every day. It is also the reason agriculture survives.
DO NOT MISS THE 3M THEORY, READ IT HERE
LOOK AT ITALY Italy, home of the Mediterranean diet and globally admired for its food culture, proves the point clearly.
- The food industry is one of the two pillars of the Italian economy.
- 83% of Italy’s agricultural production is transformed by the food industry.
- Without processing, agriculture would simply collapse.
And this system does far more than transform raw materials: it drives innovation, intellectual property, logistics, branding, and now digital transformation.
Out of its €190 billion in value (about 10% of GDP), €67 billion are exported, a reminder that modern food processing is not the enemy of tradition, but the engine that allows it to thrive globally.
Out of its €190 billion in value (about 10% of GDP), €67 billion are exported, a reminder that modern food processing is not the enemy of tradition, but the engine that allows it to thrive globally.
THE FALSE ENEMY Blaming UPFs for obesity and cardiovascular disease ignores decades of evidence: food explains roughly 25% of these conditions.
The rest is genetics, lifestyle, movement, stress, sleep, socioeconomic environment, pollution, and more. But these factors don’t offer an easy villain. They don’t go viral. They don’t fuel political theatre.
The rest is genetics, lifestyle, movement, stress, sleep, socioeconomic environment, pollution, and more. But these factors don’t offer an easy villain. They don’t go viral. They don’t fuel political theatre.
PAGANINI NON RIPETE 296: THE EINAUDI’S METHOD
THE PERFECT SHORTCUT So industrial food becomes the perfect target, the modern version of an old, ideological narrative: genuine vs. manufactured, authentic vs. transformed, natural vs. modern, imagined simplicity vs. real complexity, romantic rurality vs. the supply chain that actually feeds people. A historicist, Marx-inspired framework repackaged as health activism.
MY TAKE If we want to reduce obesity and chronic disease, courts and pseudoscientific categories won’t help.
We need to abandon scapegoats and invest in education, critical knowledge, and empowerment.
We must enable citizens to choose freely and responsibly, not according to the ” of “State science“.
We need to abandon scapegoats and invest in education, critical knowledge, and empowerment.
We must enable citizens to choose freely and responsibly, not according to the ” of “State science“.
- Public health does not improve by attacking the food industry.
- It improves through smart, evidence-based policies.
- It improves by restoring personal responsibility and informed freedom.
It improves by recognising that technology, even in food, is an opportunity, not a threat.
