Are COOK meals ultra-processed?

There’s lots of talk about ultra-processed foods at the moment: industrially-manufactured foods, some of which contain next-to-no nourishment and can be harmful to our health. They make up a shocking 50% of our diet in the UK by some reckonings. Among the categories named and shamed in the recent book, Ultra-Processed People, are breakfast cereals, supermarket breads and, yes, frozen ready meals.

So what about COOK?
The clue is in our name: we COOK, we don’t ultra-process. It’s why we have big kitchens, humming with life, full of skillful, caring people preparing meals and puddings by hand. We believe in cooking nutritious food so you don't have to. We stand firmly against a financialised food system whose sole purpose is profit.

Back in 1997, our founding statement was to COOK using the same ingredients and techniques a good cook would use at home. It means all the ingredients we use are things you might find in your own kitchen cupboards.

As is likely in your own kitchen, a small minority of the ingredients we use (about 4%) would be considered ultra-processed. Store cupboard ingredients like Worcester sauce, redcurrant jelly, ordinary white bread and meat or vegetable stock would technically be considered UPFs. They’re industrially manufactured and might have sub-ingredients such as maltodextrin, used to “bulk out” products, or emulsifiers which prevent oil and water components splitting (for example in creamy sauces or margarine). These are then listed as sub-ingredients on the back labels of our meals.

Just to be crystal clear: we don’t add any of these directly into our food, but they are contained in small amounts in other store cupboard ingredients we use (as above). We've been assessing all of the UPFs within the sub-ingredients of our recipes and we are actively working on removing or reducing these wherever possible, by sourcing cleaner alternatives and recipe redevelopments. These changes will be reflected on our product information as we work through them, so it's always best to check the label for the most up to date information.