Are you sitting on your couch watching TV and eating your favorite chips? Have you read the package’s label? Are the chips heavily processed? Were they produced using chemicals? Well, let’s see.

For this opinion essay, I interviewed Patricia Pelletier, the public health educator and RHN coordinator for the Sullivan County Dept. of Public Health, and she provided me with answers to these and other questions. It appears that a significant portion of what we eat falls under the category of “ultra-processed foods,” edibles that have been modified by refining or chemical processes and may contain dyes, preservatives and other non-naturally occurring additives.

Pelletier explained how these products can affect people’s health. She also spoke about the county’s Wellness Committee, a group tasked with educating people about ultra-processed foods and convincing them to change their eating habits.

The Wellness Committee is also very active in making the county a healthier place by organizing litter plucks, offering educational sessions about the dangers of vaping and smoking, and partnering with Sullivan 180, the county’s independent health organization, to promote awareness about county health issues.

Healthier alternatives

Pelletier said that farmers markets in the county’s various villages and hamlets have vendors who offer more nutritious food options, from farm-to-table produce including fresh vegetables and fruits, hormone-free meats and dairy products, and naturally produced condiments and preserves. These, she said, give residents a healthy alternative to store-marketed ultra-processed foods.

Although, she added, some foods need to be processed, like canned goods and pasteurized milk and cheeses, to extend shelf life. Because who would want to eat something that has been rotting on the shelf?

Many nations, like those in Europe, won’t sell most of the processed foods we have here. They have Skittles, but without the titanium dioxide used to color ours. Chemically modified milk and starch products found in our fast food restaurants? Nope. This shows how citizens of other countries often maintain a healthier, more balanced diet than that of the average American.

Pelletier told me about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, a long-running federal plan that supplements families’ grocery budgets so they can afford healthier foods. She said the USDA is removing some of the unhealthier items from the SNAP list of purchasable products to make room for more nutritious and healthier foods. SNAP is obviously a very good program, because it helps people be healthier despite their financial situation. But restricting the types of foods SNAP users can buy, foods with little nutritional value like soft drinks and sugary snacks, may also cause people to make healthier choices.

What’s in a product?

Look at the labels of packaged foods. There may be things listed there that can cause cancer, like dyes. In 1990, it was shown by the FDA that a coloring in Doritos and many other red-hued foods causes cancer in rats. As a result, the color additive was banned in cosmetics. But since it was harmful for lab animals, you would think Red Dye 40 would have been banned in our food, too. Well, the FDA finally announced last month that it will now be phased out.

Ultra-processed foods too often contain chemicals that are bad for the human body. If you think about it, who are the people most affected? Older people? Younger people? Youngsters may consume the lion’s share of ultra-processed foods, but all ages can be affected. If the kids and adults live surrounded by these products, it may be hard to change dietary habits. Kids may complain, demanding sodas or sweet snacks, and parents can provide these “treats” occasionally. But a steady diet of ultra-processed foods puts consumers’ health at risk.

We really need to take a closer look at what we put into our bodies, because we don’t know what their ingredients may do. I’m not saying that we need to quit entirely, just take it down a notch.

Which foods are ultra-processed?

Here’s a list of ultra-processed foods that comes from the NOVA Food Classification system which defines them as “industrial formulations made entirely or mostly from substances extracted from foods, derived from food constituents or synthesized in labs from food substrates.”

Fatty, sweet, savory or salty snacks
Pre-prepared (packaged) meat, fish and vegetables
Biscuits (cookies)
Pre-prepared pizza and pasta dishes
Ice creams and frozen desserts
Pre-prepared burgers, hot dogs, sausages
Chocolates, candies and confectionery in general
Pre-prepared poultry and fish “nuggets” and “sticks”
Cola, soda and carbonated soft drinks
Other animal products made from remnants
Energy and sports drinks
Packaged breads, hamburger and hot dog buns
Canned, packaged and other ‘instant’ soups, noodles, sauces, desserts, drink mixes and seasonings
Baked products made with ingredients such as hydrogenated vegetable fat, sugar, yeast, whey, emulsifiers, and other additives
Sweetened and flavored yogurts, including fruit yogurts
Breakfast cereals and bars
Dairy drinks, including chocolate milk
Infant formulas and drinks, and meal replacement shakes
Sweetened juices
Pastries, cakes and cake mixes
Margarines and spreads
Distilled alcoholic beverages such as whiskey, gin, rum, vodka, etc.