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Rating the Level of Processing in Foods

nutrition facts on food

alexskopje from Getty Images/CanvaPro

While highly processed foods have been associated with an unhealthy diet, information about the degree of processing has been limited. GroceryDB, a comprehensive database of more than 50,000 food products sold by Walmart, Target and Whole Foods, is the first systematic attempt to quantify food processing.

With the help of a user-friendly interface called TrueFood, GroceryDB enables consumers to view the level of processing for specific foods, based on a scoring system where 0.0 to 0.2 represents minimally processed items and 0.7 to 1.0 are considered ultra-processed.

The Grocery DB system uses artificial intelligence to examine each product’s ingredient complexity and interactions; presence and quantity of industrial additives; nutritional composition and density; processing methods and techniques; presence of artificial preservatives and enhancers; chemical modifications to the original ingredients; added sugars and their forms; industrial protein sources and modifications; and synthetic micronutrients and fortification.

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