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I'm always wondering about the vague term "Processed," so I just looked it up...

According to the USDA, processed food is defined as any raw agricultural commodity that has been subject to washing, cleaning, milling, cutting, chopping, heating, pasteurizing, blanching, cooking, canning, freezing, drying, dehydrating, mixing, packaging or other procedures that alter the food from its natural state. This may include the addition of other ingredients to the food, such as preservatives, flavors, nutrients and other food additives or substances approved for use in food products, such as salt, sugars and fats. So, by definition, most times we engage in food preparation and cook, we are in fact processing foods.

The American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics says processed foods range on a scale of minimally processed to mostly processed:

Minimally processed foods — such as bagged spinach, cut vegetables and roasted nuts — are often simply pre-prepped for convenience.
Foods processed at their peak to lock in nutritional quality and freshness include canned tomatoes, frozen fruit and vegetables and canned tuna.
Foods with ingredients added for flavor and texture (sweeteners, spices, oils, colors and preservatives) include jarred pasta sauce, salad dressing, yogurt and cake mixes.
Ready-to-eat foods — such as crackers, chips and deli meat — are more heavily processed.
The most heavily processed foods often are frozen or pre-made meals, including frozen pizza and microwaveable dinners.

Processed foods is a catch all and can mean so many things

I view it as canned vegetables not processed food....canned meat like spam.. processed food.

Frozen pizza rolls..defintely processed. I eat them anyway sometimes

But if it isnt sitting in the fresh section ..it is processed I suppose

The most heavily processed foods often are frozen or pre-made meals, including frozen pizza and microwaveable dinners.

Interesting. I would think breakfast cereal would be right up there too. One thing I've never trusted are 'fortified' or 'enriched'. It's basically chemically extracted vitamins reinserted into another food. Watch Food Inc sometime. They show a scientist that's just giddy over how many things that can be extracted from corn. That's why everything processed has some component from corn in it.

And frozen pizza? It should be bread, tomato sauce and cheese, plus whatever toppings. But of course not. Just glanced at a Red Baron box and then grabbed this from their website;

ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), WATER, LOW MOISTURE PART SKIM MOZZARELLA CHEESE (CULTURED PASTEURIZED PART SKIM MILK, SALT, ENZYMES), PEPPERONI MADE WITH PORK, CHICKEN, AND BEEF (PORK, MECHANICALLY SEPARATED CHICKEN, BEEF, SALT, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF SPICES, DEXTROSE, LACTIC ACID STARTER CULTURE, SODIUM ASCORBATE, SMOKE FLAVORING, FLAVORING, SODIUM NITRITE, BHA, BHT, CITRIC ACID, CONTAINS ONE OR MORE OF: WATER, GARLIC POWDER, PAPRIKA, OLEORESIN OF PAPRIKA), TOMATO PASTE, PALM OIL, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: VEGETABLE OIL (SOYBEAN AND/OR CANOLA OIL), SUGAR, NONFAT MILK, SALT, YEAST, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, SPICE, MALTODEXTRIN, DRIED GARLIC, HYDROLYZED SOY AND CORN PROTEIN, PAPRIKA, DRIED ONION, NATURAL FLAVOR, WHEAT STARCH, DEFATTED SOY FLOUR, L-CYSTEINE HYDROCHLORIDE, AMMONIUM SULFATE, SOY LECITHIN, ANNATTO (COLOR), ASCORBIC ACID (DOUGH CONDITIONER). CONTAINS: WHEAT, MILK AND SOY.

What's missing that is on the box is; (Contains bioengineered food ingredients) GMO corn and soy most likely.

Good gawd; (Ammonium sulfate is made by treating ammonia with sulfuric acid) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_sulfate Fertilizer, water treatment, vax ingredient, wood preservative, used in pesticides - herbicides - fungicides, flame retardant, AND FOOD.

As a food additive, ammonium sulfate is considered generally recognized as safe (GRAS) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

[sarc]Well that makes me feel much better.[/sarc]

My food is nearly 100% processed and probably always will be, but I do take Omega 3/6/9 (fish, flax, and borage oils) daily. Makes my triglycerides drop like a rock, too.