Does a meat-free diet entail more ultra-processed food?

While ‘ultra-processed’ has become something of a buzzword, it has roots in a genuine desire to aid understanding of diet and health. Carlos Augusto Monteiro was born into a family on the precipice of escaping poverty in Brazil, and after becoming the first in his family to attend university, he researched malnutrition. However, in the 1990s, he noticed an uptick in obesity among people living in poverty, and sought an explanation - his answer was that highly processed products had become more widely available than single-ingredient products that made up traditional Brazilian cuisine.

He categorised processing of foods into four tiers: unprocessed or minimally processed foods, processed ingredients, processed foods, and ultra-processed foods. The first three categories refer to things you’d find in your kitchen, ranging from eggs to fresh meat to vegetables to dried herbs to cheese. Food processing is, unarguably, necessary. Canning, pasteurisation, baking, and boiling are all forms of food processing. The last category, however, is subject to much more debate, as it refers to foods produced industrially, that you would not be able to replicate at home. Think of moulded sweets with high-fructose corn syrup, protein powder, and fizzy drinks.

This is where vegetarianism has come into the conversation; while a beef steak from the butchers is minimally processed, a Quorn steak contains ultra-processed ingredients such as mycoprotein, rehydrated egg white, firming agents, and gluten-free roasted barley extract. While this does not, at all, mean that Quorn steak is “dangerous”, it does highlight a troubling trend - that vegetarian (and vegan) substitutes, as they try to replicate single-ingredient animal products, contain many, many ingredients and involve a lot of processing.

For plant-based people who are accustomed to cooking with processed tofu, tempeh, or seitan, this might not raise any concern. Other vegetarian protein sources could come from eggs, yogurt, and edamame, all minimally processed. On the other hand, for people who are considering switching out even a few meals a week, meat or dairy substitutes might seem like the way forward, but the label itself could put potential converts off. It takes creativity to eat protein as a vegetarian, with the Quorn steak from before containing less than half the protein beef steak has.

For students, cost may become a concern; depending on the supermarket, tofu can come in tiny packets or be astronomically expensive, while an ultra-processed sausage or chicken alternative can be not just cheaper per portion, but much more convenient. On the flip side, though, university life doesn’t entail high-quality, minimally processed meats very often, and many students turn to cheaper meat sources such as pork sausages, bacon, and beef burgers that are ultra-processed, too.

While there are studies that suggest that vegetarian and vegan diets inherently contain more ultra-processed foods, these studies included foods that are "vegan by default" or naturally vegan, such as bread and condiments. Among the vegetarian and vegan participants, meat alternatives made up just 0.2% of their caloric intake. There was also just 4% difference between the ultra-processed foods energy intake for vegetarians and that for meat eaters.

Ultimately, ultra-processed foods are a fact of life. There is no hope of avoiding them, and nor is that necessary. Moderation, balance, and a healthy relationship with food should always be the priority, and making meals from scratch with whole ingredients could help with that.