Tag Archives: Food2.0

The industrial processing of food is not new. What is new is the speed and extent to which food technology development has accelerated. It’s been the dominating force in the US market place beginning in the 1980s.

Food 2.0 is the word I’ve used to describe a particular approach to ultra-processing. First a food is broken down into its molecular or nutritive parts and then selected parts are industrially reformulated back into a new food product. These molecular parts are identified and listed by name on ingredient lists. Examples are extracts, concentrates, modifiers, emulsifiers, colors, flavors …

See Page “View from My Kitchen Window” posted above for my approach.

🔴Aranciata • Hydrating and Refreshing.

Pictured above are two versions of my favorite imported Italian 🇮🇹 soda along with the respective sales pitch and ingredient list. Aranciata is a drink that I enjoy on a hot summer day – poured into a glass and served with lots of ice. Tastes so good!

I do like the taste of sugar. Our guidelines, food labeling regulations, and basic common sense tell us that too much sugar is not good for our health. That’s good advice. All things in moderation. Even sugar.

How to describe the taste of Zero Sugar? I find that’s a tough question to answer. It’s almost too sweet but still a little off … Maybe a little flat. But products marketing Zero Sugar are not targeted to folks like me because I’m okay with sugar. Zero Sugar is selling something more than sweet taste and targets consumers looking for something else besides a hydrating refreshing drink on a hot summer day.

The marketing of indulgences has been lucrative since the beginning of human existence. Folks love getting something for free. We all want our indulgences. But many of us aren’t nearly so keen on paying the consequences of indulgence. We don’t want to feel guilty. And we don’t want to acknowledged we’ve been indulgent. This human phenomena has not escaped the eye of the global food industry. They have mastered the art of selling indulgence or, as it is called in advertising circles, craveability and guilt free.

VIEW FROM MY KITCHEN WINDOW

If you’ve read the two lists of ingredients, you already know that both products are ultra-processed. Of the two sodas pictured above, however, one is less highly processed than the other. If I were a NOVA loyalist, I wouldn’t buy either one. As much as I love NOVA, however, I’m not a loyalist. Refreshing and hydration does beat ideology on one of those hot humid Hudson Valley days.

The Aranciata does use cosmetic additives – orange extract and natural flavor. Let’s call these cosmetic additives the Food 2.0 first generation. The ingredient list in Zero Sugar however includes two artificial sweeteners which are manufactured using more invasive forms of ultra-processing so I think of them as Food 2.0 second generation.

Sucrolose is an altered chemical structure designed by replacing 3 hydroxyl groups on the sucrose molecule with three chlorine atoms. This rearrangement means to body does not recognize the structure as food and therefore it is not broken down during digestion.

Acesulfame Potassium is a high intensity sweetener synthesized by chemists and patent protected since the 1970s.

🔴 Biscuits & Cookies – What’s a sugar metric?

Here’s the challenge. Imagine you’re standing in the supermarket isle in the cookie section – competing cookie brands as far as the eye can see. Your goal is to determine which box has a low concentration of sugar without opening all the packages and tasting each cookie.

Should be easy right? But when you check the Nutrition Facts, all you find out is the number of grams of added sugar in a serving …

The label is very helpful for determining how many grams of sugar a cookie puts in your gut. That’s useful information but it’s not what I know.

I want to compare the concentration of sugar in the McVitie versus the Biscoff. I want to know the relative degree of sweetness in the two cookies. That’s a calculation I know how to do using the data on the Facts label but it’s awkward to stand in the cookie isle and try to run numbers so I took the east way out and purchased both brands.

VIEW FROM MY KITCHEN WINDOW

Recipe analysts and food labelers have a name for I want to know.  It’s called proximate analysis and it’s the metric that reflects nutrient composition. Proximate analysis data sets are compiled per 100 grams and are based on four nutrients:  moisture (water), protein, carbohydrate, fat.

After I got home I ran the respective numbers. The McVitie’s is 14% added sugar by weight and the Biscoff by is 35%.

Both products are ultra-processed. Both use various combinations of cosmetic additives which modify texture, taste, or color. Neither one qualifies as healthy. The sugar squad will bang on my head no matter which one I like. Why? Because moderation is not an option for the digital mindset. My response to the sugar square is this. I don’t need a label to tell me a cookie isn’t healthy.

The ultimate test of course is how do the two cookies taste?  The McVitie’s has the texture of a shortbread. And as reflected by in sugar metric calculation, it’s sweet but just enough sweet to balance the mouth feel of fat and the blandness of wheat flour. The Biscoff is intensely and to my taste at least obnoxiously sweet. So sweet in fact, I trashed the package after my taste test.

Just for comparison purposes, Americans favorite cookie is the Oreo. And the sugar metric for an original Oreo is 38%.

🔴Carrot Cake – Mothers Day 2025

This Whole Foods Carrot Cake was our dessert last Sunday. Excellent dinner – halibut, rice pilaf, broccoli florets. My son-in-law grilled the brocolli florets and they came to the table ever so lightly charred. He pan fried the halibut and served it with a herb infused butter / olive oil sauce. He did cheat a little and used a package for the rice pilaf.

A moderate well balanced meal followed by a significant indulgence. But that’s what happens on Mother’s Day. The day was memorable for both food and company – perfect, beautiful, delicious, enjoyable. Everything a good Mother’s Day should be.

I’ll share with you upfront, the cake was tasty. Whole Foods does have problems and I rarely shop there these days, but when it comes to cheese or pastry, they do a credible job. The cake was not too sweet. It didn’t upset my stomach. And my gut did not complain. Since dinner was both good very satisfying, we all had moderate pieces. I didn’t give the cake a second thought as to its status until I found the box when I was cleaning up. A list of ingredients and a nutrition facts label. Okay I said to my self. Let’s take a look.

And that’s when I focused on the list of ingredients. OMG! After deciding the list was too long to count, I highlighted in yellow all the possible candidates that could serve as markers of ultra-processed. The two processes that stand out to me are natural flavors and multiple flavor extractions – cosmetic additives with the flavor notes suggesting Food 2.0.  The cake gets a red dot.

How would the taste compare with freshly baked? My guess is made from scratch and freshly baked would taste cleaner, sharper, and probably better. No less indulgent however. But I’ve never made a carrot cake so I can’t reference my own experience.

The Food Police insists that #UPF is not a reliable indicator of whether or not a food is healthy. On that point, I’m sure all can agree. Plenty of taste and not much else. So it really doesn’t matter whether you are nutrient focused or processing focused. Carrot cake is not a healthy choice!

Now I’ll just say Happy belated Mother’s Day to all the moms and grand moms out there. Here’s hoping your Mother’s Day was as perfect as mine was.

🔴Classic Cream Wafers • Tastes good to me.


What tastes good to me is not necessarily what most of my fellow Americans like. And I usually avoid #UPF because I prefer the taste of freshly prepared. But I’m okay with  the taste of these crispy wafers with chocolate cream filling. How to explain that anomaly will require some investigation.

The product is clearly and unequivocally ultra-processed. How do I know? Because I counted the number of ingredients and looked for markers. The list reads as follows:  wheat flour, coconut oil, glucose syrup, whey powder (milk), sugar, cocoa processed with alkali, soy flour, chocolate (sugar, chocolate liquor), nonfat dry milk, hazelnuts, leavening (sodium hydrogen carbonate, disodium diphosphate), salt, soy lecithin, barley malt extract, peanut butter, spices, almonds, natural vanilla pods. Yikes!

So why does it taste okay to me? To answer that question I had to take a look at nutrients.

The saturated fat value is more than 20% DV (Daily Value) and is therefore considered high. Saturated fat comes from these two ingredients – the cocoa and the coconut oil. As long as it’s doesn’t upset my stomach, I’m okay with high fat.

As for added sugar, the value is 10% DV and is considered moderate. Personally I don’t find the DV for added sugar useful. My preferred reference point is percent composition by weight. The label tells me there are  5 grams in one serving and a serving weights 32 grams. With those two numbers I can calculate the percent composition by weight. The sugar metric for this product is 16 grams per 100 grams. That means the product is 16% added sugar by weight. Oreo thins, a classic American favorite, has a sugar metric of 41%. In other words, the wafers that taste good to me have a lot less added sugar than an Oreo Thin.

Anomaly solved. I like these wafers in spite of their #UPF status because they don’t upset my gut and they’re not too sweet.

Finally for those of you who relate better to food apps than to words, check out the GoCoCo score. The score for this product is 1/10.

🔴 Twinkies – Don’t sweat the small stuff!

I bought a package of Twinkies and snapped this picture prior to the JM Smuckers acquisition in 2023. But comparing the ingredients list back then with what I read on the manufacturer’s website today, the ingredients list is basically the same with a few minor changes.

The brand has had its ups and downs since it was founded in 1930. But the brand is alive and well today. And thriving. That means lots of somebodies out there are buying, eating, and enjoying these iconic snack cakes.

I often refer to the Twinkie as the poster child for UPF.

The ingredients are all refined, compounded, or fragmented. The list includes sugar, enriched wheat flour, oils, salt, baking soda, and multiple cosmetic additives like high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, modified food starch,  soy lecithin, cellulose gum, xanthan gum, artificial & natural flavors, yellow 5, red 40.

There’s no real food in an Twinkie. Even if the FDA allows food labelers to count the refined enriched bleached wheat flour as a grain, it’s not my idea of what a real food should be.

The marketing copy sells indulgence – taming your sweet tooth with creamy, flakey, cakey “goodness”. So where does the “goodness” come from? That is an easy question to answer. The product has way too much sugar, fat, even salt. Sales 101 is and always has been – sell what you have. And all the Twinkie has to offer is sugar plus fat “goodness”.

I used the same picture I took in 2023 because I didn’t want to buy a second box. I ate a couple of Twinkies after snapping the pic and my gut got confused. And a little upset. My gut just isn’t used to dealing with the kind of indulgence Twinkies is selling. Was it the cocktail of cosmetic additive? The fragments or compounds? Or perhaps the preservatives required to keep the Twinkies soft and safe to eat after spending months on the shelf? Or was it the intense sweetness? We just don’t know yet …

VIEW FROM MY KITCHEN WINDOW

My fellow Americans are becoming increasingly concerned about #UPF. Guaranteed, we’ll all be learning a lot more about ultra-processed over the next couple of years. But good evidence takes time and money. And waiting for good evidence can take a years.

When 70% of the choices on the supermarket shelf are considered UPF, we could starve to death if we wait to make a decision until all the evidence comes in.

So that’s why I’ve put together my own strategy to help navigate the supermarket.

RULE – There’s no consensus yet on what is and is not #UPF but if something you eat upsets your gut, pay attention. And stop 🛑 eating it.

RULE – Don’t sweat the small stuff. There are big offenders like Twinkies and little offenders like industrially formulated whole grain bread. So for now focus on the big offenders.

🔴 Cute. Clean. Tasty. Ready to eat.

Consider the corn chips pictured above. No doubt about it, they’re tasty. Even more remarkable, the taste of whole corn is the predominant flavor. That’s the taste of my favorite corn tortillas which are made using a tradition processing method for corn – Nixtamalization. That’s when dried kernels of mature corn are cooked and steeped in an alkaline solution, usually water and calcium hydroxide. The processing makes it easier to grind the corn kernels and results in a characteristic taste. The label makes no mention of nixtamalization, but I do recognize a hint of that familiar flavor.

The ingredient list is simple and reads: organic whole ground corn, organic sunflower and/or organic safflower oil, sea salt, lime oil.

Although the FDA has yet to publish a final rule for using the word “healthy” on food product labels, it’s likely the product would be able to use the word because these corn chips meet the qualifications for another FDA nutrient guideline. As a general guide – 5% DV or less per serving is considered low for the three nutrients of concern – sodium, saturated fat, added sugars. And these corn chips check all three of those boxes.

The product also offers multiple certifications for added reassurance. Late July is a manufacturer with an impressive marketing approach. The chips are certified USDA organic, nonGMO, gluten-free, vegan, kosher, and whole grain. The product is designed to honor all lifestyles and make everybody feel comfortable. It’s a brilliant approach. If everyone at the party can feel comfortable with the same snack food despite allergies or lifestyle preferences, you only need to buy one brand of tortilla chip.

THE VIEW FROM MY KITCHEN WINDOW

Personally I have a couple of problems labeling chips of any kind “healthy” based solely on a nutrient profile.

First, I like to scrutinize a product by looking through the NOVA lens. Potato chips and tortilla chips both fall into the NOVA Group 4 bucket. Most tortilla chips are made using an extruder. Extrusion is a process that uses heat and pressure to force food which has been reduced to a slurry or semi-solid state through a specifically designed opening to achieve a desired shape. These chips have a more delicate texture. Perhaps they were rolled into very thin sheets then precut into the familiar triangle shape? They also have a more nuanced taste – as noted above a whisper of niximalized whole corn. Still UPF but suggestive of a kinder gently degree of processing. The ingredient list for the product pictured above contains no “cosmetic” additives. Those are the additives that add flavor, color, sweetness, smoothness thus enhancing taste, appearance, or texture. As a result, the label is remarkably clean.

Second there’s a compositional issue. Folks eat food not nutrients.  Chips are served with dips. What dip will end up on the chip? Then there’s the issue of what foods are being displaced because the eater grazed on chips and dips before sitting down to a plate of food.

What makes more sense to my simplistic mind would be to say these tortilla chips are cute, clean, and very, very tasty. But yes, they are ultra-processed, so don’t spoil your dinner by eating too many, especially if what follows is a freshly prepared meals made with minimally processed ingredients like vegetables and meat or fish.

🔴Boca Burger. Quickly assembled posture child for UPF


The Boca Burger has been around since 1979.

That means Boca marks the beginning of an era. During the 1980’s, the dominance of ultra-processing #UPF was established in our American food environment.

A plant based burger is a lot more sophisticated today than it was in 1979. Most plant based burgers however, regardless of the degree of sophistication, are classified as NOVA Group 4 / #UPF.

The Boca I served for dinner the other night consisted of the burger, hamburger bun, shredded lettuce, tomato, mayo. There’s not much controversy over what makes the Boca ultra-processed. Or for that matter what makes the commodity hamburger bun ultra-processed. Both are industrially formulated convenience products manufacturer with markers and processes not available to home cooks. Both products have a lengthy ingredient list. Commodity mayo is also ultra-processed because it usually contains a preservative but I’m okay with food safety. The shredded lettuce and tomato are both minimally processed but these ingredients constitute only about 25% by weight.

So that’s the scoop. Thanks to the Nutrition Facts Label we know my Boca Burger puts lots of sodium on the plate. Using the NOVA lens, it’s easy to see why my Boca Burger qualifies as ultra-processed. In my opinion #UPF is not a reason to avoid the Boca Burger unless …

THE VIEW FROM MY KITCHEN WINDOW

My significant other likes burgers and buns. He’s okay with plant based and that’s why I gave Boca a shot. Keeping a meal in the freezer that can be reheated and served on those days when I don’t have time to cook is handy so I’m always evaluating options.

He was fine with the Boca. My problem with most industrially formulated foods is they are boring – they always taste the same.

But my digestion was not happy. Something in the combination upset my gut.

Just because an additive is safe doesn’t mean the substance sets well in everyone’s gut. My gut is unhappy with one of the substances. Is it the soy protein concentrate? Or perhaps the modified cellulose, the wheat gluten, the hydrolyzed wheat protein, or the natural flavor? Or perhaps it’s simply that my gut is not used to metabolizing substances that I don’t eat on a regular basis.

What ever the reason, it’s still okay to say no thanks. Trusting your gut is just common sense and there’s nothing wrong with good old fashioned common sense.