HowGood’s Minimally Processed attribute recognizes food products that are made with lower-energy processing, which reduces environmental impact. Less ingredient processing required in production also tends to yield products with better ingredient quality.

Products that receive the Minimally Processed attribute have ingredients that are not dependent on commercial or industrial processing. Minor heat, fermentation and physical extraction are a few examples of ingredient processes that would qualify. On the contrary, chemical processing, fermentation, use of solvents are examples of high-energy processes.

Whole, fresh foods are the best examples of “minimally processed” ingredients. Other ingredients that qualify are either mechanically processed or processed with low heat.

Some ingredients that are ubiquitous in the food system and added in small amounts (such as supplements added to enrich foods) also qualify as Minimally Processed despite requiring commercial or industrial processing. Examples of these ingredients that are exceptions to the rule include Vitamin D added to milk, or silicon dioxide used as an anti-caking agent.

Note: This attribute looks at the method used to process an ingredient and does not take into account the actual energy required to do so. It also does not reward a product for its level of healthiness or nutrition, or how “natural” the product is.

How does it work?

On the My Formulas page, you can select to add “Minimally Processed'' as a column to your dashboard. You can also sort any list of formulas by the Minimally Processed attribute to see which of your formulas achieve the attribute:

If your formula has achieved the attribute, you will also see that “Minimally Processed” is activated on the Product Impact page. If it is not activated, you can try making changes in Edit mode to see how you can achieve Minimally Processed for your product.

To learn more about HowGood's Minimally Processed attribute methodology, read this article.