The UPF debate

Scientific publishing on ultra-processed food jumped by 450% between 2021 and 2025, and few terms in food are as charged right now. 

The evidence linking high UPF consumption with poor health keeps growing, but so does the argument over whether the label itself is a meaningful category or a blunt tool that lumps wholegrain bread and a fortified plant-based burger in with the foods people are really worried about. 
 

In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, recorded live at our London event, four panellists from very different corners of the industry take the question head on. 

We hear what the evidence does and doesn’t show, a call for policy to target fat, salt and sugar specifically rather than processing itself, and a view that the industry shouldn’t wait for perfect evidence before removing ingredients it doesn’t need.

It is a lively debate, with plenty of questions from the audience, on one of the hottest topics the food industry is facing.

If this has whet your appetite for next year’s Food Matters Live events - you can already register your interest to partner with us in London and Rotterdam. Just head to foodmatterslive.com