The only way to get non-UPF baked beans... go organic

THEY are quick and convenient ways to feed a busy family and they’re enduringly popular. But it might be a surprise to learn that, despite being created in industrial kitchens, not every ready-meal is ultra-processed.

CHIPS

UPF

McCain Home Chips, 1.6kg, €5.39 at Tesco

UPF ingredients: Dextrin, vegetable fibre, turmeric extract, paprika extract

Aunt Bessie’s Roast Potatoes, 720g, £€5.39 at Tesco

UPF ingredients: Dextrin, dextrose, colouring

NOT only are the potatoes in these McCain’s Home Chips reconstituted to keep them fluffy, but they have an added coating of batter to make them crunchy. Extra ingredients include additional fibre, turmeric and paprika extracts for the colour and dextrin, a starchy carbohydrate.

Aunt Bessie’s Roast Potatoes are also not just frozen, pre-roasted potatoes but come with a range of extra ingredients which are the hallmark of UPFs, including dextrose — a form of sugar —dextrin and colouring. But apart from the additives, the other crucial factor that makes these products UPFs is their soft texture. The structure of food — known as the matrix — has a crucial effect on how food is eaten, digested and processed by the body.

This is illustrated well in a study from 1977, when scientists fed people apples in different forms — in whole chunks, as juice and as smoothies. They found the juice and puree caused blood sugar levels to spike higher than whole apple chunks, and to then fall lower than they’d been in the first place, causing people to still feel hungry. The whole apple led to a slower blood sugar rise before it returned to base level, and people felt more full.

The same is true for these reconstituted potato products.

‘What you can’t see from the ingredients list is the texture,’ explains Gunter Kuhnle, Professor of Food and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Reading. ‘Potatoes which are mashed up and then put back together are softer than normal whole potatoes.

‘One of the side-effects of ultra-processing is that people overeat them precisely because they’re softer and easier to chew and swallow.’

NON-UPF

McCain Naked Chips, 750g, €2.50 from Dunnes UPF ingredients: None

This is a far less processed alternatives, and there are other supermarket brand versions which also contain just two ingredients.

McCain also sells frozen microwaveable baked potatoes which are just potatoes and oil.

But Professor Pete Wilde, of the Quadram Institute, adds: ‘Ultimately it’s cheaper, and better for you, to microwave a potato yourself, or cut up potatoes into chips and bake them in oil. They’ll generally be lower in fat and calories.’

FROZEN PIZZA UPF

Chicago Town Deep Dish Pepperoni Pizza, 2 x 155g, €1.99 from Dunnes

UPF ingredients: Pepperoni (dextose, ascorbic acid, extracts of rosemary, maltodextrin, spice extracts, sodium nitrite), modified potato starch, flavourings

Dr. Oetker Ristorante Mozzarella Pizza, 335g, €4.25 from Dunnes

UPF ingredients: Dextrose, maltodextrin, pepper extract

THE long list of ingredients in the Chicago Town pizza speaks for itself: this is UPF. But the main culprit in this instance is the pepperoni. This is a processed meat and contains a range of additives such as sodium nitrite as a preservative. The dextrose, a type of sugar, and maltodextrin, a powdered carbohydrate, are both used as sweeteners.

The added UPF extras to the pizza itself are limited to modified potato starch and flavourings. Standard starches are not UPF, but once they have been modified —which is done to improve the effect they have on texture — they become industrial ingredients which some people have an intolerance to.

NON-UPF

Crosta & Mollica Sourdough Margherita Pizza, 403g, €6.90 from Marks and Spencer UPF ingredients: None

IT MIGHT still be packed in plastic and sold as a ready meal in the freezer aisle, but this Crosta & Mollica pizza doesn’t contain any UPF ingredients.

Everything on the label is a basic store cupboard item.

However, experts still warn that this doesn’t mean pizzas are necessarily good for you.

Dr Kuhnle says: ‘These kinds of foods are still associated with weight gain and poor nutrition.’

TINS/JARS UPF

Heinz Baked Beans, 415g, €1.50 from Dunnes

UPF ingredients: Modified cornflour, spice extracts

Patak’s Tikka Masala cooking sauce, 450g, €2.99 from Dunnes

UPF ingredients: Modified maize starch, paprika extract

MOST products will contain additives to help preserve them and, if they’re in a jar, to keep the ingredients from separating so they look palatable on the shelf.

Both the beans and the cooking sauce contain modified starches and spice extracts — which have been through a chemical process to create a more concentrated version of the original spice.

This makes them UPF, although whether they are linked to side effects is unknown.

Modified starches, from maize or potatoes, are a common addition to tins and jars of ready-made products and act as thickeners and stabilisers.‘Starch from potatoes or corn is a normal ingredient, but once they’re modified they’re different products,’ says Dr Wilde. ‘We don’t know whether they have a health impact in the longer term.’

They’re also in Heinz’s Cream of Tomato soup and cooking sauces such as Dolmio’s Original bolognese and Blue Dragon’s sweet and sour stir fry.

Tinned meats are also packed full of UPF ingredients.

NON-UPF

Heinz Organic Baked Beans, 415g, £€1.90 from Tesco

UPF ingredients: None

Organic versions of Heinz Beans and its Cream of Tomato soup are both UPF-free. Another tip when buying cooking sauces is to stick to tomato-based ones.

Anything with cream or meat, such as bacon or pancetta, will require a longer list of preservatives, thickeners and emulsifiers — and the meat in itself will be highly processed.