For Ms Kate Lim, a 46-year-old mother of three, ultra-processed and ready-to-eat foods are part of managing the morning rush and mealtimes without a helper. Her household staples include cereal, oats, granola, frozen bao (buns), dumplings and beef pies – items that keep well and can be prepared quickly.
Fresh ingredients, however, come with limits. “Fresh protein costs more and doesn’t keep for more than three days. I’m a one-pot-wonder mummy cook, so frozen items help me save time.”
Ms Lim added that her children, aged 10 to 17, also influence what ends up in the pantry.
“When my kids were younger, I was more obsessed with getting healthier options with no additives or preservatives, even if they cost more. Now that (my kids) are older, they sometimes ask for tastier, more seasoned foods, like frozen fast-food-style chicken wings that I can’t fully replicate.”
UPFs such as instant noodles, frozen nuggets, packaged snacks, ready-to-eat meals and sweetened beverages are popular across many demographic groups in Singapore, because they are affordable, convenient and shelf-stable.
For parents juggling work and childcare, students living in dormitories and workers with irregular hours, these products are seen as practical solutions to fill stomachs quickly and cheaply.
Last month, a group of 43 global experts published a series of papers in the Lancet medical journal calling UPFs a “major new challenge for global public health”.
The authors – one of whom is the Brazilian professor who coined the term “ultra-processed foods” about 15 years ago – cited the need for “urgent, coordinated public policies and collective actions” to address the growing impact of widespread consumption of such foods.
The global proliferation of UPFs, said the authors, is strongly associated with deteriorating diet quality and higher risks of chronic illnesses such as obesity, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers, based on consistent findings from large cohort studies and meta-analyses.
While the evidence base is still largely observational, the authors argued it meets most criteria for inferring causality, bolstered by supportive findings from short-term randomised controlled trials.
And on Wednesday (Dec 3), authorities in San Francisco, California filed a landmark lawsuit against major food manufacturers, including Coca-Cola and Kraft Heinz, alleging that their ultra-processed products contribute to chronic diseases. The case, believed to be the first of its kind in the United States, underscores the intensifying regulatory and legal scrutiny of UPFs worldwide.
But other experts CNA TODAY spoke to emphasised that the threat of UPFs is not as straightforward as it may seem – starting with what even counts as an “ultra-processed food”.
These differing perspectives are part of an internationally contentious debate.
With UPFs playing an increasingly significant role in the average Singaporean’s diet and daily routine, CNA TODAY explores how that role could change through regulation – or whether it should.