ISABELLE'S OPINION:PROCESSED FOODS

ISABELLE'S OPINION: PROCESSED FOODS

Several nutrition experts now sum up their recommendations with the simple message: "Reduce your consumption of processed foods" as if this public health message were so simple for everyone to understand. At first glance, this seems like very good advice. On the other hand, this raises a question: what is a processed food? When should a product processed by industry be considered less interesting? Are the bread, flour, soy beverage processedés?

A little dizzying let's admit it! For people in the industry, it may seem obvious and yet, many admit to getting lost too. I can only note that the consumer feels lost in front of this new concept which is exploited on all the media platforms. For the curious, there is the NOVA classification which divides foods according to their level of processing and their potential effect on human health. This classification is far from easy to understand for the general public.

My advice Go back to basics. I have been advocating the same message for 25 years: a simpler, natural diet, therefore necessarily less processed, is favorable to health. I have always encouraged reading ingredient lists in addition to looking at the Nutrition Facts table.. Are these ingredients you might or might not have at home Simple as that! Filling your basket with fresh food, cooking more does not mean forgetting all the products from food processing. Many companies market nutritious products, even if they have undergone some processing. This is the case for cheeses, yogurts, unsweetened vegetable drinks, certain cereals, breads, etc. This new fashionable term– processed foods- expresses what I have been saying since the beginning of my profession, but only complicates understanding and makes consumer education more difficult! We bet that it will no longer be part of our vocabulary soon!

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