Processing Winners

Single Ingredient Champions

1.0 Perfect processing score for pure ingredients like spices, oils, and whole foods

Minimally Processed Stars

≤2.5 Top category for 2-3 ingredient products with minimal processing

Key Insights

• Category Leaders: Every major food category has processing winners with scores ≤2.5

Pure ingredients with no additives or processing beyond basic preparation:

Simple products with 2-3 ingredients and minimal processing:

Best processing score in each major food category:

Simple products from some of the largest brands in our catalog:

Why surprising? A brand name does not tell you how a product scores. Each of these brands has 100 or more products in our catalog, and each also makes a single-ingredient or very simple product that scores at or near the bottom of the scale. Check the product, not the brand.

Score 1.0 - Single Ingredient

Products with exactly one ingredient, no additives, preservatives, or processing aids.

Examples: Pure spices, single fruit juices, whole grains, raw nuts, pure oils, individual vegetables

Score 1.1-2.5 - Minimally Processed

Simple products with 2-3 natural ingredients and basic processing like mixing or heating.

Examples: Juice blends, seasoned nuts, simple nut butters, basic yogurt, whole grain breads with minimal ingredients

Processing Score Calculation

Our algorithm considers ingredient count, processing aids, preservatives, and artificial additives.

Scoring factors: Base score from ingredient count, penalties for artificial additives, HFCS, preservatives, modified ingredients

• Processing winners exist everywhere: Every major food category has products with processing scores of 2.5 or lower.
• Surprising winners: Large brands like Meijer and Wegmans also make single-ingredient or simple products that score near the bottom of the scale.
• Simple is better: Look for short ingredient lists and recognizable ingredients to find processing winners.