How the processing level works

1. What the level shows

The processing level shows how processed a packaged food is, on a scale from 1 to 10. It looks only at how the product is made, as far as its ingredient list shows.

• Whole food (level 1): food as it comes, or only dried, frozen or pasteurised, such as fruit, eggs, plain yoghurt or oats.
• Kitchen ingredient (level 2): what you cook with, such as oil, butter, sugar, salt or honey.
• Processed (levels 3 and 4): foods made from these in simple ways, such as cheese, canned vegetables, salted nuts or freshly made bread.
• Ultra-processed (levels 5 to 10): industrial recipes with ingredients rarely used in home kitchens, or additives that change how a product looks, tastes or feels. The more processing markers we find, the higher the level.

With one scale for every product, you can compare products and brands and choose what suits you. The level says nothing about nutrients such as sugar, salt, fat or fibre.

2. How we work it out

We start from NOVA, the classification of food by processing published by Carlos Monteiro and colleagues (Monteiro et al., 2019). It sorts food into four groups, and our level always agrees with the group:

• NOVA group 1, unprocessed or minimally processed food: level 1.
• NOVA group 2, processed culinary ingredients: level 2.
• NOVA group 3, processed food: level 3, or level 4 when it has five or more ingredients or a preservative.
• NOVA group 4, ultra-processed food: level 5 to 10.

We work out the NOVA group ourselves, from the ingredient list. A product is in group 4 when it has at least one processing marker. There are two kinds:

• Ultra-processed ingredients: substances rarely used in home kitchens, such as flavourings, maltodextrin, dextrose, glucose or glucose-fructose syrup, invert sugar, hydrolysed protein, protein isolates, modified starch, hydrogenated or interesterified fat, and fibres added as isolates, such as inulin.
• Cosmetic additives: additives that change colour, taste or texture, which NOVA calls cosmetic. We count colours, flavour enhancers, sweeteners, emulsifiers, emulsifying salts, thickeners, gelling agents, glazing agents, bulking agents, foaming agents, anti-foaming agents and carbonating agents. What each E number does comes from the functional classes in EU law (Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008).

Preservatives and antioxidants are used in processed food too, so on their own they don't make a product ultra-processed.

In group 4, the first processing marker gives level 5. Then we add:

• 1 for each further processing marker, up to 3. Each ultra-processed ingredient counts once, and so does each kind of cosmetic additive: two emulsifiers count as one.
• 1 when a processing marker is one of the first three ingredients. Ingredients are listed by weight, from most to least, so a marker near the top is a main part of the product.
• 1 for 15 or more ingredients.

The level is always a whole number, and it stops at 10. An example: "Oat flakes (55%), honey (12%), almonds (10%), inulin, sunflower oil, natural flavouring, emulsifier (sunflower lecithin), salt". Inulin, the flavouring and the emulsifier are three processing markers, so the level is 5 + 2 = 7. None of them is among the first three ingredients, and there are 8 ingredients, so nothing else is added: level 7.

The rules are the same for every product and every brand, and the same ingredient list always gets the same level. Your phone works out the level, and the app shows every point as a processing marker, with the ingredient we matched, the rule behind it and where the data came from.

3. Where the data comes from

The level needs only the ingredient list. FemNote gets it in one of two ways:

• Barcode: your phone looks the product up in Open Food Facts, an independent, non-profit database of food products, built by volunteers and available under the Open Database License (ODbL). Only the barcode number leaves your phone, without an account, ID or cookies. The result shows when the product was last edited there.
• Label: if a product isn't in Open Food Facts, or has no ingredient list there, you can photograph the ingredient list on the pack. Your phone reads the label itself, and the result shows that the data comes from your label scan. If your phone can't read it, the photo or text can be sent to be recognised, as our privacy policy explains, and it is not stored.

Your scans and their levels are stored on your phone, not on our servers.

4. How sure we are

Product data is not always complete, so every level comes with how sure we are:

• Based on the full ingredient list: we recognised more than 9 in 10 ingredients.
• Some ingredients we couldn't read: we recognised 7 to 9 in 10 ingredients, or the list comes from a label photo, which can be misread.
• Not enough information yet. Scan the ingredient list. You see this instead of a number when the ingredient list is missing, or when we recognised fewer than 7 in 10 ingredients.

One exception: a single processing marker is enough to know that a product is ultra-processed. If we find one, we show a level even when we recognised fewer than 7 in 10 ingredients, marked Some ingredients we couldn't read. The ingredients we missed could add points, so the level may be lower than it would be with the full list.

5. What the level is not

The level describes how a product is made. It is not a health or safety rating, and it doesn't tell you whether a product is right for you.

It is not a judgement of a brand either. It describes one product's ingredient list, as it was in the data when you scanned it. Recipes change, so the same product can get a different level later.

Additives in food sold in the EU are authorised under EU law, based on safety assessments by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The UK and the US have their own rules and authorities for additives. A processing marker shows that an ingredient or additive is typical of industrial processing, not that it is unsafe.

Experts still discuss how best to classify food by processing. The UK's Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, for example, notes concerns and difficulties with the NOVA classification (SACN, 2025). That's why FemNote shows every reason with its source, so you can check it yourself.

The level is also separate from your personal verdict, such as Worth watching for you, which depends on your own watch list.

FemNote is a wellness app, not a medical device. It doesn't diagnose, treat or prevent any condition. If you have questions about what you eat, talk to your doctor or a dietitian.

6. Brands can't pay

No brand can pay for a level, for a better place when you compare or rank your scans, or to change a product's data in FemNote. We earn from subscriptions.

FemNote has no ads. If we ever show a sponsored product, it will be clearly labelled Ad, and it will never change a level.

7. Wrong data?

If a product's ingredients in Open Food Facts are wrong or out of date, you can correct them there, on its website or in its app. Anyone can, including the brand. FemNote uses the corrected data the next time it looks the product up.

You can also scan the ingredient list on your pack: a label scan uses what is printed on your product.

Think we applied a rule wrongly? Tell us through the support page. A real person replies within 2 working days.

8. Version and changes

This is version 1 of the method, from 14 October 2026.

We announce every change to the rules, markers or points on this page, with the new version number, the date and what changed. When the app gets a new version, your phone works out the levels of your saved scans again.

9. Sources

• Monteiro CA, Cannon G, Levy RB and others (2019). Ultra-processed foods: what they are and how to identify them. Public Health Nutrition 22(5), 936-941.
• Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 on food additives, Annex I: functional classes of food additives.
• Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (2025). Processed foods and health: SACN's rapid evidence update.
• European Food Safety Authority. Food additives.
• Open Food Facts, the open database of food products. Its data is available under the Open Database License (ODbL).

Product data in FemNote: © Open Food Facts contributors, under the Open Database License (ODbL).