PROCESS THIS

Whether tinned, cured, baked or smoked, processed foods cop a lot of bad press. But to baste them all with the same brush is a fool’s logic. Deviate from the fresh food aisles and you can gather a wealth of nutritious fare that easily merits a spot in you

It’s not all preservatives and E numbers. These processed foods pack a healthy punch

Should there be one point on which most trending diets converge, it would be that processed foods are a bad thing. It’s the dictum that nutri-puritans – regardless of the specifics of their approach – can all agree on. And it’s not without basis; in two recent papers in The BMJ, a diet based heavily on industrially manufactured foods was linked to a shorter lifespan. But ‘processed’ is an ill-defined term. It runs the gamut from sun-dried tomatoes to fluorescent squeezy cheese. Fermentation? That’s a process. Brining, marinating, poaching… essentially, any foodstuff that hasn’t been pulled off a tree or out of the ground has been processed. It makes food easier to digest, last longer and a damn sight more enjoyable, too. To disparage it all is misguided. So, we put a few of our favourite processed foods to a few of our nutritionist friends to find out which tins, jars and packets are worth their salt. You might just be surprised.