Ultra-Processed Foods List (UK): What to Spot & Swap | The Tuck Company

Navigating the supermarket aisles as a parent can feel like a mission. You’re trying to find things your children will actually eat, stick to a budget, and make healthy choices. It’s a tough balancing act.

In our previous post, "What are Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFs)?", we explained what UPFs are: industrial formulations made with ingredients you wouldn't typically find in a home kitchen. Now, it’s time to get practical. Where are these foods in UK supermarkets, and what should you be looking out for?

This isn't about banning foods or feeling guilty about what’s currently in your trolley. It's about awareness. This list is a tool to help you spot UPFs, understand why they fall into that category, and feel empowered to make simple swaps when you can.

How to Spot an Ultra-Processed Food

Before we dive into the list, here’s a quick reminder of the key giveaways of a UPF:

• A Long Ingredients List: Often ten or more ingredients, and sometimes dozens.
• Unfamiliar Ingredients: Things you wouldn't use in a home kitchen, such as protein isolates, maltodextrin, high-fructose corn syrup, and various E-numbers (emulsifiers, thickeners, artificial sweeteners, colours, and flavour enhancers).
• Health Claims on the Packet: Ironically, things marketed as "low-fat," "high in vitamins," or "a great source of fibre" can often be UPFs, using these claims to mask their true nature.
• Long Shelf-Life: Products (that aren't tinned or frozen whole foods) designed to last for months.
  

The Ultra-Processed Foods List: Aisle by Aisle

Let's walk through a typical UK supermarket.

The Cereals Aisle

This is a major UPF hotspot, especially with products marketed directly to children.

The Obvious UPFs: Most brightly coloured, character-led breakfast cereals. These are often high in sugar, refined carbohydrates, and contain artificial colours and flavourings.

What to look for on the label: Added sugars (glucose syrup, invert sugar syrup), colourings (carotenes, anthocyanins), and fortified vitamins added to an otherwise low-nutrient base.

Simple Swaps: Porridge oats (a minimally processed food), plain shredded wheat, or Weetabix. You can add natural sweetness with chopped bananas, berries, or a small drizzle of honey or maple syrup.

The Snacks, Crisps & Biscuits Aisle

Convenience is king here, but it comes at a processing cost.

The Obvious UPFs: Lots of crisps, packaged cakes, biscuits, and cereal bars.

What to look for on the label: Flavour enhancers (monosodium glutamate - E621), emulsifiers (soya lecithin), hydrogenated fats, and a lot of sugar and salt. Many cereal bars, often seen as a "healthy" option, can be packed with syrups and isolates.

Simple Swaps: Fruit, plain rice cakes, oatcakes with cheese, a handful of nuts or seeds (age-appropriate), plain yoghurt, or vegetable sticks with hummus. Look at the ingredients on the snacks you buy and if you recognise them and the nutritional values look good they might be worth a try. Check out our oat bars for a UPF-free option.

The Bread & Bakery Aisle

Bread can be a simple food, but mass-produced loaves are often ultra-processed to ensure a long shelf life and a soft texture. This was a big shock for us at The Tuck Company as it's really hard to find a non UPF bread.

The Obvious UPFs: Packaged, plastic-wrapped sliced bread (both white and wholemeal) with a long list of ingredients. Also, look out for packaged brioche, crumpets, pancakes, and wraps.

What to look for on the label: Emulsifiers (E471, E472e), flour treatment agents (ascorbic acid - this one is less of a concern), and preservatives (calcium propionate). The key is the combination of many non-kitchen ingredients.

Simple Swaps: Bread from an in-store bakery or a local baker, which typically contains just flour, water, salt, and yeast. Sourdough bread is also a great option.

The Chilled & Ready Meals Aisle

This section is a minefield of both simply processed and ultra-processed foods.

The Obvious UPFs: Some ready meals (from pasta dishes to curries), flavoured yoghurts, and some plant-based meat alternatives.

Yoghurts: Yoghurts with fruit 'corners', mousses, and kids' character-themed yoghurts are nearly always UPFs. Look for ingredients like modified starch, stabilisers, artificial sweeteners (sucralose, acesulfame K), and colourings.

Simple Swap: Plain natural or Greek yoghurt. You can add your own fruit, and it’s often cheaper, higher in protein, and lower in sugar.

Ready Meals & Sauces: Jarred pasta sauces, cooking sauces, and complete ready meals are prime UPF territory. Look for modified maize starch, flavour enhancers, and lots of added sugar and salt.

Simple Swap: A basic homemade pasta sauce is incredibly easy – just tinned tomatoes, garlic, herbs, and a splash of olive oil. It’s cheaper and healthier.

The Frozen Foods Aisle

Frozen food can be a parent's best friend. The key is distinguishing between minimally processed and ultra-processed.

Minimally Processed Heroes: Frozen fruit, vegetables, plain fish fillets, and plain meat are not UPFs. They are fantastic, convenient, and nutritious options.

The Obvious UPFs: Breaded or battered items (chicken nuggets, fish fingers, potato shapes), frozen pizzas, and some ice creams.

What to look for on the label: These products often use reconstituted meat or fish combined with starches, flours, and flavourings. Ice cream often contains emulsifiers, stabilisers, and little actual cream, relying instead on whey powder and vegetable fats.

Simple Swaps: While harder to swap like-for-like, you could try making your own simple fishcakes or chicken strips with breadcrumbs. For a frozen dessert, frozen yoghurt made by blending plain yoghurt with frozen berries is a great alternative to ice cream.

The Drinks Aisle

The Obvious UPFs: Fizzy drinks and many fruit juices 'from concentrate' with added ingredients.

What to look for on the label: High fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose), colourings, and preservatives.

Simple Swaps: The best drinks for kids are water and milk. If you want to add flavour to water, try infusing it with fresh mint, cucumber, or slices of orange.

Your Shopping Mantra: Reduction, Not Perfection

Seeing this list can feel overwhelming. It might seem like UPFs are in everything. But remember the goal: this is not about eliminating every single one of these items from your life.

This is about empowerment.

Next time you're in the supermarket, try this:

Pick one area to focus on. Maybe this week, you’ll look at the yoghurts. Compare the ingredients of a flavoured character yoghurt with a pot of plain natural yoghurt.

Try one swap. If you normally buy a jar of pasta sauce, try buying a tin of chopped tomatoes and some herbs instead.

Don't let 'perfect' be the enemy of 'good'. Making small, informed changes over time will have a far greater impact than trying to overhaul your entire weekly shop overnight and giving up.

By knowing what to look for, you can start to shift the balance in your shopping trolley, one swap at a time, towards more whole and minimally processed foods for a healthier, happier family.

We've created our own UFP-free snacks for the whole family, with a mission to keep the nasties out of our food.