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One might not think of tofu as a processed food, but it seems to follow the definition found here:

Food processing is any deliberate change in a food that occurs before it's available for us to eat.

Is tofu considered a processed food? If so, in the 'continuum' chart, which would tofu fall under?

Aaronut
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jdev
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    Clearly tofu is processed by that definition. The only food I can think of that is not processed by that definition is a mother's breast milk when consumed directly from the nursing mother. All other food is processed in _some_ way. What question are you really wanting answered? – Flimzy Mar 21 '12 at 00:57
  • I don't see what this has to do with the scope of this site, as defined in the [faq], unless you're asking how it's made. In particular, if you're thinking about nutritional characteristics of processed and unprocessed foods, that is most definitely off-topic. – Cascabel Mar 21 '12 at 03:12
  • I kind of agree with @Jefromi - who cares whether or not some food is technically considered "processed"? Technically anything that's been cooked has been processed, which is almost everything on this site. – Aaronut Mar 21 '12 at 03:13
  • I think the answer here is "yes, but who cares?" – FuzzyChef Mar 21 '12 at 06:47
  • @Flimzy, breast milk is also processed, by the mamary glands. I think what jdev might have meant was is tofu chemically engineered or altered. – Avien Mar 30 '12 at 20:03
  • @Jefromi, he is asking how it's made in a sense, so this question does fall into the scope of the site. and @ Aaronut, it does matter whether or not a food is engineered to a lot of people who about what their food tastes like and the quality of their food. – Avien Mar 30 '12 at 20:07
  • @Avien: If he had asked how it's made, then I wouldn't have voted to close it, and he could have edited it - he seemed to have some idea, though, given that he said it fit a definition he found. – Cascabel Mar 30 '12 at 20:24
  • @Avien: Every form of cooking is "chemical engineering and alteration." I don't think mammory-gland-secretion is considered "processing" by any meaningful definition within food science, nor is photosynthesis. Perhaps within biology it is, but that's an entirely different realm. – Flimzy Apr 11 '12 at 03:21
  • Reason to suggest reopen: The definitions of primary/secondary/tertiary processed food seem to be well established, and can be used to answer this constructively. – rackandboneman Dec 01 '17 at 12:28

2 Answers2

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We are being bombarded with the message to eat less 'processed food' so asking what that might mean and which foods it includes is relevant.

Most of us will agree on the definition found here: www.getting-started-with-healthy-eating.com/processed-food Processed food refers to the products of food manufacturers; these products are literally manufactured in industrial processes.

Industrial is the key word. I can grind flour at home and bake bread but not with a mixer of 500rpm and 100 additives.

Any site with a more inclusive, favorable definition of 'processed food' is probably an industry representative

My opinion puts tofu at the same processing level as home curd cheese.

Pat Sommer
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According to your definition, tofu is a processed food:

Tofu, also called bean curd, is a food made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into soft white blocks

Pascal Qyy
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