GroceryDB: Prevalence of Processed Food in Grocery Stores

Abstract

The offering of grocery stores is a strong driver of consumer decisions, shaping their diet and long-term health. While highly processed food like packaged products, processed meat, and sweetened soft drinks has been increasingly associated with unhealthy diet, information on the degree of processing characterising an item in a store is not straight-forward to obtain, limiting the ability of individuals to make informed choices. Here we introduce GroceryDB, a database with over 50,000 food items sold by Walmart, Target, and Wholefoods, unveiling the degree of processing characterizing each food. The goal of GroceryDB is to empower consumers and policymakers with systematic access to the degree of processing characterizing the foods they select, and the potential alternatives in their food environment. GroceryDB indicates that 73% of the US food supply is ultra-processed, and on average ultra-processed foods are 52% cheaper than minimally-processed alternatives. We find that the nutritional choices of the consumers, translated as the degree of food processing, strongly depend on the food categories and grocery stores. Moreover, the data allows us to quantify the individual contribution of over 1,000 ingredients to ultra-processing. GroceryDB and the associatedhttp://TrueFood.Tech/website make this information accessible, helping to simultaneously nudge consumers towards less processed food choices, and aid policymakers to reform the food supply.