Problematizing ultra-processing: opposition strategy mobility and an emergent challenge to food systems governance

Diet-related diseases pose escalating global challenges despite long-standing concerns and health policy commitments. Developing an alternative to the dominant approach to nutrition research and policy, Brazilian researchers proposed the concept of ultra-processed food (UPF) and the underpinning NOVA classification system. This concept has permeated into policy spaces since its inception in 2010, with several countries including recommendations to minimize UPF consumption in dietary guidelines. Through an intrinsic focus on industrial processing and, by extension, the business model that enables UPF to proliferate, the UPF concept challenges voluntary and partnership approaches to food policy. Amid growing policy salience, debates around ultra-processing have become highly politicized. We examine a broad range of documentation, including trade press and 42 academic articles, adopting a policy mobilities lens to explore the origins and nature of opposition to the UPF concept and its application in policy. We identify patterns of obstruction that seek to de-mobilize the concept, such as efforts by industry groups to side-line the problematization of UPF through conflation with the broader category of processed food. This study provides important insights into how efforts to construct barriers to the mobility of UPF as an innovative idea are evolving as international policy interest grows.