FoodUnfolded

How can you tell if a food is ultra-processed? 🧐 And are all ultra-processed foods (UPFs) actually unhealthy? We asked participants at EIT Food's #NextBite24 event these questions to get insights from food industry experts on this hot topic. 🍽️💡 Dive deeper into this conversation—and much more—by exploring our content series on one of the biggest debates in food today! 👇 https://lnkd.in/d9NwjKpe. Thank you to Helen, Chidinma Chukwu, Marina Schmidt 🍎🍏, Dr. Stephan van Vliet, Bart van der Zande and Aaqifa Shaikh for sharing their insights. FoodUnfolded is funded by EIT Food, a body of the EU 🇪🇺

#Regenerative agriculture can be described in many ways. Some focus on methods like using cover crops, integrating livestock, and reducing tillage. Others emphasise results, such as better soil health, carbon capture, and increased biodiversity. Often, it’s a mix of both. The absence of a formal definition can be seen as both an advantage and a challenge. Some say this flexibility encourages innovation and varying levels of commitment to "regenerative" practices, while others worry it could weaken the core values and lead to greenwashing. Do you think creating a unified definition or label for regenerative agriculture could be helpful? Host and Writer Inés Oort Alonso Editing by Arturo Vicario Graphics by Eloise Adler FoodUnfolded is funded by EIT Food, a body of the EU 🇪🇺

In 2018, while staying with a host family in southern India, I immersed myself in the local food culture—meals of puttu, kadala curry, and appam. Yet in larger cities or supermarkets, I noticed the familiar presence of McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and Nestlé products. India's rich culinary landscape was also feeling the pull of global food giants. I saw the same pattern in Lebanon, where snacks I had enjoyed in Spain and Canada, like 7Days Croissants, stirred nostalgia among locals as they did for me. The reach of ultra-processed foods, it seemed, knew no borders. To read more about how the west exported their foods and diets around the world, check out my article for FoodUnfolded!

🍖 Are animal by-products being wasted? Animals are more than just the cuts of meat we see in supermarkets. Like humans, they have hearts, lungs, livers and other organs, skin, spinal columns, feet, heads, and hair. But what happens to these parts when an animal is slaughtered for human consumption? 💄Turns out they can be used in clothes, furniture, cars, medicine, construction, cosmetics and even in delicacies! Read more about the many uses of animal by-products in Lauren L.'s article https://lnkd.in/g75mjXdu Graphic by Cait Mack FoodUnfolded is funded by EIT Food a body of the EU 🇪🇺

🍟 Why can you find lasagne-flavoured chips in Thailand but not in Italy? Brands like Lay's and Pringles create flavours tailored to each country’s tastes. In fact, these companies work with local chefs to understand and research the nuances of different cuisines. Ultra-processed foods like chips are carving a new culture of quick calories and convenience around the world. But what exactly are these ultra-processed foods, and how has their proliferation affected our health, habits, and relationship with food? Learn to navigate the world of this complex and proliferating new way of categorizing food on our website: https://lnkd.in/dXH8srFk Video inspired by Amelia Tait's article in The Guardian https://lnkd.in/dpMBYdQd FoodUnfolded is funded by EIT Food, a body of the EU 🇪🇺

🥤🍫 At FoodUnfolded, we're tackling one of the most talked-about topics in food and health: ultra-processed foods (UPFs). UPFs are already shaping a global culture of fast, convenient eating, but their rapid rise has sparked many important questions. 🌭 Because, what are these foods, and how have they impacted our health, eating habits, and connection to food? Why are they so hard to resist? Are they truly harmful? And should we cut them out of our diets entirely? 🍩 The whole FoodUnfolded team has taken a deep dive into the world of UPFs, to make sure you get all the answers to your questions, and more. Discover all you need to know on UPFs here: https://lnkd.in/dXH8srFk FoodUnfolded is funded by EIT Food a body of the EU 🇪🇺

🌾 Did you know only 15 crop plants provide 90% of the world's energy intake? 💊 Did you know your supplements might not include the ingredients you expect? 🥤 Did you know there's a place where soft drink consumption is 32 times higher than the global average? 🍔 Did you know nearly 60% of calories consumed by adults come from ultra-processed foods in the U.S.? ✉️ Sign up to Our Food, Unfolded, our monthly newsletter, to discover more about our food system, stay up to date with our latest articles, posts and videos, see the behind-the-scenes of our work, and receive selected food news from our editors. https://lnkd.in/djZ_urH2 FoodUnfolded is funded by EIT Food a body of the EU 🇪🇺

🔍 Question Wednesday: Are High-Tech Meat Alternatives the Future, or Are We Overlooking Simpler Solutions? A study by Wageningen University & Research and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin compared various meat substitutes—like algae, insects, plant-based options, pulses, and cultured meat—examining sustainability and public acceptance. The results were not surprising: high-tech alternatives like cultured meat are getting the most attention and funding, largely due to their potential for patents and innovation. Meanwhile, more sustainable, low-tech options like pulses are often overlooked. ❓What do you think? Are we putting too much emphasis on complex, lab-grown meat alternatives, or should we focus more on the simpler, plant-based solutions that are already here? To find out more about the past and future of meat alternatives... 🥩 Read Silvia Lazzaris' article on FoodUnfolded about the history of Meat Alternatives here: https://lnkd.in/dESG8n9d 🥩 Read the recent Nature Magazine's article titled "In Asia, alternative proteins are the new clean energy" by Ryan Huling, Doris Lee, Wasamon Nutakul, PhD and Samuel Goh here https://lnkd.in/gt9Xj99C FoodUnfolded is funded by EIT Food, a body of the EU 🇪🇺

Multivitamins, superfood powders, herbal remedies, fish oil—chances are, you’ve taken some kind of food supplement recently. In fact, surveys show that around 80% of Europeans have used a supplement in their lives, hoping to maintain, restore, or boost their health. With supplements flooding store shelves and filling online shopping carts, it raises the question: are we truly getting healthier, or are we just buying into the idea that better health comes in a bottle? Thank you to Dr. Katie Suleta for her contributions and help, Celine Willmore for her phenomenal editing and FoodUnfolded and EIT Food for their support.

🥤Have you ever wondered why certain foods are nearly impossible to resist? The answer lies in "flavour engineering," a practice used by food companies to pinpoint the precise “bliss point” where flavours are most satisfying. The best known use of bliss point engineering was in the development of Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper in 2004, but the technique is also used to create biscuits, sweets, ice cream, crisps, dressings, dips, soups, sauces, breads, and many more products. Flavour engineering, such as finding the bliss point, overstimulates taste buds, leading to the release of dopamine, encouraging us to seek out these foods repeatedly. Yet, while efforts to reduce unhealthy ingredients have become common, many simply replace one processed component with another, like swapping fats for artificial sweeteners, rather than shifting toward whole, minimally processed options. Changing the way food tastes has resulted in a surge in the consumption of ultra-processed foods (#UPFs). But taste alone isn't the only reason we're hooked on these processed foods. Can you guess what other factors might be at play? Read more in Lauren L.'s article about Why Ultra-Processed Foods Are So Hard To Resist https://lnkd.in/d68hGNXb. Graphic by Emma Berthaud FoodUnfolded is funded by EIT Food, a body of the EU 🇪🇺