Where does plant-based meat fit in the conversation around ultra-processed foods?

Our food system places a huge strain on the planet, and plant-based meat alternatives have emerged as one of several ways to reduce this burden. Typically made from legumes (e.g. soy) or fungi (e.g. mycoprotein), they aim to recreate the taste and texture of animal meat. Despite being a more recent invention, in Europe they have seen greater uptake than their traditional precursors tofu, seitan and tempeh – indicating potential to support more mainstream diversification of diets (GFIE 2025a). Research suggests animal farming uses 83% of farmland but produces only 18% of calories eaten (Poore and Nemecek 2018), yet global demand for meat is projected to grow 52% by 2050 (FAO 2018). Europeans are currently overreliant on animal-source foods and eat fewer of the diverse plant-based protein sources like beans and legumes that were widely eaten just decades ago. The popular narrative surrounding ultra-processed foods (UPF) currently undermines uptake of plant-based meat, even though it shares little in common nutritionally with most foods in the category and has not featured in experimental trials on UPF to date. This article presents a summary of the key findings from a recent guide I co-authored alongside colleagues Dr. Roberta Allessandrini and Dr. Johanneke Tummers from the Physicians Association for Nutrition International. It explores how plantbased meat fits within the broader narrative and research on UPF (GFIE 2025b).

What are UPFs?    

UPFs are most commonly classified using the Nova framework, developed by Brazilian epidemiologist Prof. Carlos Montiero and his team to try to explain how dietary shifts were leading to growing rates of diet-related ill health. The framework groups foods into four categories (Table 1).  

Table 1: Simplified definitions of each Nova category with examples, based on recent literature (Monteiro et al. 2019).

Nova offers a holistic view of food environments and eating patterns, and consequently separates foods based on how they are made and used, not nutritional characteristics. The Nova framework can be interpreted in two ways:
• Epidemiological - identifying changing dietary patterns linked to increased rates of diet-related ill health (most research to date).
• Food-level - to assess the healthfulness of individual foods.

This research remains preliminary (Lancet Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 2025). While it is not defined by nutritional composition, UPFs often, though not always, have high levels of salt, saturated fat, and sugar, and lack key nutrients and fibre. Plant-based meat is often (though not always) Nova 4, but its average nutritional profile is very different from that of the category overall. It also tends to be part of different dietary patterns. Consequently, the growing media attention surrounding UPF has led to widespread, and often incorrect, assumptions as to the nutritional profile of plant-based meat.

What is the nutritional profile and available health research on plant-based meat

Plant-based meat has a distinctive nutrient profile. While wide variation exists between products, it is generally high in protein and a source of fibre while also being low in sugar and saturated fat (Nájera Espinosa et al. 2024