The oven chips and chocolate biscuits that are actually good for you

Think processed food is always bad? Wrong! Here we reveal . . .

SO- CALLED processed food is synonymous with the term ‘unhealthy’ — and we all know we should be aiming to cook mostly from scratch. But processed food doesn’t mean only microwave meals and frozen pizzas. strictly speaking, any food that has been altered from its natural state — whether that’s by chopping, juicing, cooking, pasteurising, freezing or canning — has been processed.

so even a tub of fresh fruit salad is technically processed, or a handful of roasted almonds. But so, too, are instant noodles and hot dog sausages. Clearly, not all processed food is created equal.

Methods to determine what should be described as ‘processed’ vary, but one, designed by Brazilian researchers and increasingly being used by health experts, is the NOVA classification system. It divides food into four groups according to the extent of processing they undergo.

Group one is unprocessed or minimally processed food, such as fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, eggs, milk, rice and pasta. Group two is processed foods used for cooking, such as sugar, oil and butter. Group three is processed products with just a few added ingredients, such as canned vegetables, beans and fish, salted nuts and cheese.

and finally, group four is ‘ ultra-processed’ food, such as sausages, ready meals, pizzas, cooking sauces, mass- produced bread, margarine, breakfast cereals, cakes and chocolate. It’s this ‘ultra-processed’ group in particular that health experts recommend we eat less of.

this has little to do with the use of additives such as preservatives, colourings or flavourings — rather it’s because these foods often contain large amounts of added sugar, salt and saturated fats, while lacking protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals.

that’s not to say all ultra-processed foods are bad for you. Here, we reveal some you can still put in your basket.