Humans have been processing food for almost two million years. Roasting, drying, grinding and other techniques to make food more durable and tastier. Many traditional foods today are still processed, much like our beloved pastas and bread – a process dating back to 30,000 years ago.

Ultra-processed food involves more extensive transformation with the use of chemical and physical techniques; it has become synonymous as the dark force behind the obesity epidemic and linked to a range of health diseases.

This has led to a doctoral consensus of dietary advice: eat less ultra-processed food and more unprocessed or minimally processed food.

Besides this, great strides have been made to foodtech innovation – with one of the most notable and historical examples arising in 2013, when Dr. Mark Post cooked and tasted the first lab-grown beef patty created with financial support from Sergey Brin. Precision fermentation is also ramping up and we may soon get our whey proteins straight out of a bioreactor.

As massive hype and interest in the production and development of these alternative proteins have suitably followed, where should various forms of alternative protein sit on the spectrum of processed to ultra-processed, and what does it mean for our health?