What is a processed food score? Low to Very high

A processed food score is a short label for how much industrial processing went into what you are holding. It is not a calorie count, a Nutri-Score, or a “healthy / unhealthy” grade. It answers one question: how close is this to food you could make yourself?

Where the idea comes from

Researchers often group foods with the NOVA system: unprocessed or minimally processed, culinary ingredients, processed foods, and ultra-processed foods. That research language is precise and easy to misuse on a phone screen. Gutty keeps the same idea and drops the numbering. You see Low, Medium, High, or Very high — a NOVA-style processed score in plain English.

What each label means

• Low — mostly whole ingredients. Fruit, plain yogurt, oats, eggs, a piece of fish. Minimal processing, if any.
• Medium — some processed ingredients. Foods that use culinary extras (oil, sugar, salt) or light industrial steps, still recognisable as food.
• High — more industrial processing. Longer lists, more factory steps, further from a home recipe.
• Very high — ultra-processed. Industrial formulations: flavourings, emulsifiers, reconstituted parts. Worth a second look before it becomes a habit.

The labels are honest, not moral. Bread can be Medium. A protein cookie can be Very high. You decide what to do with the information.

What Gutty shows on a scan

Gutty shows this processed score plus kcal. One glance covers processing and energy for the item in your hand. Log the meal and both numbers roll into the day: a running kcal total and a daily processed score for everything you have saved so far.

That pairing matters. A Low-score food can still be energy-dense. A Very high snack can be small. Seeing only one number hides the other half of the decision. The scan screen keeps them together.

What a processed score is not

• It is not a calorie app that happens to mention processing. Kcal sit next to the score; they do not replace it.
• It is not a general health score that mixes additives, organics, and nutrients into one percentage. That is closer to how Yuka rates products. See Yuka vs Gutty.
• It is not medical advice. The score describes processing. It does not diagnose a diet.

How to use it in real life

Use the score to compare two similar packs, not to ban a food group. Swap when you can. Log when you eat it anyway. The daily processed score is there so one Very high treat does not get mistaken for a Very high day — and so a string of “fine” scans does not hide a pattern. If you want the app that puts this score on every scan, start with the best app for finding processed foods.