Meaning & use
unprocessed food
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Meanings
noununcountable
Food that has not been changed by industrial treatment such as canning, freezing, or adding chemicals.
Grammar: Uncountable, so it takes a singular verb: 'Unprocessed food is often cheaper.' Use 'foods' only when talking about several specific kinds.
Patterns
- eat unprocessed food
- buy unprocessed food
- a diet of unprocessed food
The doctor told him to eat more unprocessed food and less packaged snacks.
Unprocessed food such as fresh vegetables and plain rice takes longer to prepare.
Her shopping list is mostly unprocessed food from the market.
nouncountable
A particular item of food that has had little or no factory processing.
Grammar: Countable here, so it can be plural: 'unprocessed foods'. Use this when you mean individual items rather than the idea in general.
Patterns
- unprocessed foods like something
- choose unprocessed foods
- avoid processed foods
Unprocessed foods like eggs, lentils, and apples form the base of her meals.
The label says the product contains only unprocessed foods.
Nutritionists often recommend unprocessed foods over ready meals.
Word forms
| plural | unprocessed foods |
|---|
Common combinations
- fresh, unprocessed food
- The café serves fresh, unprocessed food at reasonable prices.
- a diet rich in unprocessed food
- A diet rich in unprocessed food can lower your salt intake.
- minimally processed food
- Minimally processed food, such as pasteurized milk, is still fairly close to its natural state.
- whole food
- Whole food like brown rice and beans is a kind of unprocessed food.
- cut down on processed food
- He cut down on processed food and started cooking from scratch.
Synonyms and how they differ
- whole food
- Whole food is a narrower term: it means food close to its natural form, often used for plant foods, while unprocessed food can include fresh meat and fish.
- natural food
- Natural food is vaguer and often a marketing term; unprocessed food is more precise about the lack of industrial treatment.
- raw food
- Raw food means food that has not been cooked at all, which is stricter than unprocessed food, since unprocessed food can still be cooked at home.
Opposites
Word family
- process verb
- To treat food in a factory, for example by canning or adding preservatives.
- processed adjective
- Having been treated in a factory; the opposite of unprocessed.
- processing noun
- The act or process of treating food industrially.
- unprocessed adjective
- Not treated in a factory; used before nouns like 'unprocessed cheese'.
Commonly confused: unprocessed food or organic? unprocessed food or raw?
unprocessed food vs organic
Organic describes how food is grown, without certain chemicals, but organic food can still be processed; unprocessed describes how little the food has been changed after harvesting.
unprocessed food vs raw
Raw means not cooked, while unprocessed means not factory-treated; raw fish is unprocessed, but cooked rice can also be unprocessed.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'unprocessed food' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Foods' is correct when you mean individual items, so option B works. Option An is wrong because the uncountable use takes a singular verb ('is'). Option C is wrong because 'an unprocessed food' sounds odd for a general item. Option D contradicts the meaning: unprocessed food has not been processed.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “unprocessed food”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.