What is a NOVA score?
The NOVA score is a classification number from 1 to 4 that tells you how industrially processed a food is. It was developed by nutrition researcher Carlos Monteiro and his team at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, first published in 2009 and formalized in a 2016 paper in Public Health Nutrition.
The key idea: instead of asking "how many calories or grams of fat does this food have," NOVA asks "what was done to this food during manufacturing?" That turns out to matter for how your body handles it. A food can have a decent nutrition label and still be ultra-processed. The label does not capture what NOVA captures.
NOVA is not a nutrient score. It does not rate fat, fiber, or sugar content. It classifies the nature of the processing. A plain boiled egg and a protein isolate shake can both have similar protein content. NOVA puts the egg in Group 1 and the shake in Group 4.
For the research behind NOVA and why it predicts health outcomes differently from nutrient profiles, see Ultra-Processed Foods Explained.
| Group | What it is | Quick examples |
|---|---|---|
| NOVA 1 | Unprocessed or minimally processed foods | Apples, eggs, oats, plain milk, dried lentils |
| NOVA 2 | Culinary ingredients | Olive oil, salt, sugar, butter, flour |
| NOVA 3 | Processed foods | Canned tomatoes, cheddar cheese, sourdough bread, cured ham |
| NOVA 4 | Ultra-processed industrial formulations | Soda, instant noodles, packaged cookies, most breakfast cereals |
Which foods are NOVA Group 1 (unprocessed and minimally processed)?
Unprocessed and minimally processed foods
These are foods in their natural state, or foods that have been cleaned, trimmed, peeled, chilled, frozen, vacuum-packed, pasteurized, or dried without adding anything. Nothing has been introduced to change the food's fundamental character. Group 1 is the foundation of a whole-food diet.
- Fresh fruit of any kind (apples, bananas, berries, oranges, grapes, peaches)
- Fresh vegetables of any kind (broccoli, carrots, spinach, onions, peppers, zucchini)
- Frozen fruit with no added ingredients (plain frozen blueberries, mango chunks)
- Frozen vegetables with no added ingredients (plain frozen peas, corn, edamame)
- Fresh herbs (basil, cilantro, parsley, thyme)
- Mushrooms (fresh or dried without additives)
- Whole eggs
- Fresh and frozen plain meat (beef, pork, chicken, lamb, turkey) with no marinades or additives
- Fresh and frozen plain fish and shellfish (salmon, cod, shrimp, scallops) with no added ingredients
- Plain canned fish packed only in water or olive oil (tuna, sardines, salmon, mackerel)
- Plain tofu (just soybeans and a coagulant like calcium sulfate)
- Dried beans, lentils, and chickpeas (any variety, just the legume)
- Plain rice (white, brown, basmati)
- Plain rolled or steel-cut oats (no added flavoring or sweetener)
- Plain pasta made from semolina flour and water (or egg)
- Dried whole grains (quinoa, farro, barley, millet, wheat berries)
- Plain corn tortillas (just masa and water, no additives)
- Plain couscous
- Plain whole milk (pasteurized and homogenized counts as minimal processing)
- Plain yogurt with no added ingredients beyond milk and bacterial cultures
- Plain kefir with no added flavors, sweeteners, or thickeners
- Plain nuts and seeds with no added oil or seasoning (raw almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds)
- Plain nut butters made only from the nut (ingredient list: almonds, or peanuts)
- Dried fruit with no added sugar or oil (just the fruit)
- Fresh-ground coffee, plain teas, water
- Freshly squeezed or pressed juice (no added ingredients)
Which foods are NOVA Group 2 (culinary ingredients)?
Culinary ingredients
Group 2 substances are extracted or refined from Group 1 foods or from nature. You do not eat them on their own. They exist to enable cooking: to season, bind, preserve, or add texture to Group 1 foods. A spoonful of olive oil is Group 2. A bag of table salt is Group 2. A jar of coconut oil is Group 2.
Group 2 foods are not foods in the usual sense. Eating pure sugar or straight oil by the spoonful is not the intended use. In the context of preparing a home-cooked meal from Group 1 ingredients, these are the building blocks that keep the dish from being Group 4.
- Olive oil, extra-virgin olive oil
- Butter (just cream or cream and salt)
- Lard, tallow, duck fat
- Coconut oil
- Sunflower, canola, and other plain vegetable oils
- Ghee
- White sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar
- Honey (plain, minimally processed)
- Maple syrup (pure)
- Molasses
- Agave nectar (plain)
- Table salt, sea salt, kosher salt
- Plain white vinegar, apple cider vinegar
- All-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, rye flour, almond flour
- Plain cornstarch, arrowroot starch, tapioca starch
- Baking soda, baking powder (leavening agents)
Which foods are NOVA Group 3 (processed foods)?
Processed foods
Group 3 foods are made by adding Group 2 ingredients (salt, sugar, oil, vinegar) to Group 1 foods, or by using fermentation. The processing here serves preservation, flavor development, and texture. The result is still a recognizable version of a real food. A wheel of cheddar is recognizable as cheese. A can of tuna in olive oil is recognizable as fish.
The key test: could you make this at home from ingredients in Groups 1 and 2, using standard preservation methods? If yes, it is probably Group 3.
- Canned tomatoes (just tomatoes and salt, or tomatoes only)
- Canned beans (beans, water, salt)
- Canned corn (corn, water, salt)
- Canned tuna, sardines, salmon, mackerel in water or olive oil
- Plain pickles (cucumbers, water, vinegar, salt)
- Olives in brine
- Sundried tomatoes in olive oil
- Prosciutto (just pork and salt)
- Uncured bacon made only with pork and salt (read the label)
- Smoked salmon with no added preservatives beyond salt
- Salted cod
- Simple dry-cured ham
- Cheese (cheddar, parmesan, brie, mozzarella, feta) made from milk, cultures, and salt
- Plain yogurt (milk and live cultures only)
- Kefir (plain, no additives)
- Sourdough bread from a bakery (flour, water, salt, sourdough starter)
- Wine and beer (standard fermented varieties without added flavor compounds)
- Plain kimchi (cabbage, salt, chili, garlic, ginger)
- Plain sauerkraut (cabbage and salt)
- Miso paste (soybeans, salt, koji)
- Plain soy sauce (soybeans, wheat, salt, water)
- Salted nuts (just nuts and salt)
- Simple jam or fruit preserves (fruit and sugar only)
- Maple butter (pure maple syrup processed to a spread)
Label check for Group 3: The group a food belongs to depends on its specific ingredient list, not its category. "Canned tuna" can be Group 1 or Group 3 (both are fine). But a tuna product that lists modified starch, flavor enhancers, or emulsifiers moves to Group 4. Read the label, not the category name.
Which foods are NOVA Group 4 (ultra-processed foods)?
Ultra-processed foods
Group 4 foods are industrial formulations. They are manufactured from substances extracted or derived from foods (protein isolates, modified starches, hydrogenated fats, refined sugars) combined with additives that have no home-cooking equivalent: emulsifiers, stabilizers, artificial flavors, synthetic colors, non-sugar sweeteners, flavor enhancers.
The result is typically something you could not make at home from recognizable ingredients. The ingredient list reads like a chemistry panel rather than a recipe. A useful shortcut: if you see five or more ingredients you would not use in your own kitchen, the food is almost certainly Group 4.
Group 4 is the category consistently linked in research to higher calorie intake, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. That link is to Group 4 specifically, not to Groups 1 through 3.
- Regular and diet soda (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dr Pepper, Diet Coke, Pepsi Zero)
- Energy drinks (Red Bull, Monster, Bang, Celsius)
- Sports drinks (Gatorade, Powerade)
- Most commercial fruit juices with added flavors, colors, or sweeteners
- Flavored water with sweeteners or flavor compounds
- Instant coffee drinks with additives, most bottled coffee beverages
- Flavored plant-based milks with emulsifiers (most oat milks, almond milks)
- Most ready-to-eat breakfast cereals (Cheerios, Frosted Flakes, Special K, Fruit Loops, Honey Nut Cheerios, Raisin Bran)
- Instant oatmeal packets with flavoring (plain instant oats are borderline Group 3)
- Most commercial granolas (contain glucose syrup, natural flavors, and emulsifiers)
- Toaster pastries (Pop-Tarts)
- Frozen waffles and pancakes (Eggo and similar)
- Most supermarket sliced bread (Wonder, Pepperidge Farm, Nature's Own) with dough conditioners and emulsifiers
- Most packaged hamburger buns and hot dog rolls
- Most packaged muffins, croissants, and pastries
- Commercial pizza dough and crust with additives
- Most commercially produced bagels with dough conditioners
- Potato chips and corn chips (Doritos, Pringles, Lays, Cheetos)
- Packaged cookies and crackers (Oreos, Chips Ahoy, Ritz, Goldfish with artificial flavors)
- Most candy (gummies, chocolate bars with emulsifiers and flavor compounds)
- Protein bars and nutrition bars (Kind, Clif, RXBar, Quest)
- Most rice cakes with flavoring
- Popcorn with butter flavor compounds
- Frozen pizza (most commercial varieties)
- Chicken nuggets, fish sticks, and breaded meat products
- Frozen burritos, frozen dinners, and TV meals
- Instant noodles and ramen packets
- Macaroni and cheese from a box (Kraft and similar)
- Hot dogs and frankfurters
- Bologna and most deli luncheon meats with preservatives and fillers
- Most commercial sausages with additives beyond meat and salt
- Plant-based meat alternatives (Impossible Burger, Beyond Meat, most veggie burgers)
- Most flavored yogurts (Yoplait, Dannon fruit-on-the-bottom, most drinkable yogurts)
- Most commercial ice cream (especially low-fat varieties with stabilizers)
- Most flavored milk drinks (chocolate milk with carrageenan or thickeners)
- Whipped cream in aerosol cans with emulsifiers
- Cream cheese spreads and flavored spreadable cheeses
- Most plant-based milks with emulsifiers (check for carrageenan, gellan gum, sunflower lecithin)
- Most flavored yogurts marketed as probiotic or light
- Most protein shakes and meal replacement drinks
- Most commercial granola bars with glucose syrup and natural flavors
- Whole wheat supermarket bread with dough conditioners (the grain is whole, the bread is still NOVA 4)
- Most low-fat or "diet" versions of processed foods (removed fat is often replaced with modified starch and gums)
NoJunk scans barcodes and ingredient lists to identify ultra-processed ingredients automatically. No manual chemistry decoding required.
How do I check a food's NOVA score on a label?
No food in a grocery store is labeled with its NOVA group. The classification requires reading the ingredient list and applying the NOVA criteria yourself. Here is how to do it in under 30 seconds.
Step 1: Look at ingredient count. If a food has more than 5 ingredients, read each one. If it has 1 to 3 ingredients you recognize from a kitchen, it is probably Group 1 or 3. If the list is long and unfamiliar, keep reading.
Step 2: Flag industrial additives. These specific ingredients almost always indicate Group 4 because they are not used in home cooking:
- Emulsifiers: soy lecithin, mono- and diglycerides, carrageenan, DATEM, polysorbate 80, carboxymethylcellulose
- Modified starches: modified corn starch, modified tapioca starch, hydroxypropyl distarch phosphate
- Protein extracts: soy protein isolate, whey protein concentrate, hydrolyzed protein, casein
- Non-sugar sweeteners: aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame potassium, stevia extract in processed form
- Flavor compounds: "natural flavor" (when used to reconstruct taste lost in processing), artificial flavors, yeast extract as a flavor enhancer
- Synthetic colorings: Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1 and similar FD&C dyes
- Hydrogenated and interesterified fats: partially hydrogenated oils, interesterified soybean oil
Step 3: Ask the home-kitchen test. Could you make this at home using ingredients from Groups 1 and 2? If a recipe requires soy lecithin or carrageenan, you cannot buy those at a regular grocery store. That tells you something.
For a complete guide to reading an ingredient label, see Food Additives to Avoid: A Practical Reference, which covers the specific additives that push foods into Group 4 in more detail.
If you want to skip the label-reading entirely, the NoJunk app scans a barcode or takes a photo of any ingredient list and flags Group 4 signals automatically.
Point your camera at any barcode or ingredient label. NoJunk identifies Group 4 additives and tells you what to look for, without the chemistry degree.
Is a high NOVA score always bad for you?
A NOVA score of 4 is the only group consistently linked to harm in research. Groups 1 through 3 are not associated with the health outcomes that Group 4 is.
That said, NOVA is a classification system, not a health verdict on individual foods. A few things worth understanding about its limits:
NOVA 4 is not uniform. A can of diet cola and a commercial protein shake are both Group 4. The specific harms may differ, and the research is clearest for overall dietary patterns, not single foods eaten occasionally. Eating one protein bar does not undo a diet otherwise built on Groups 1 through 3.
Dose and frequency matter. Large observational studies like NutriNet-Sante (France) and the UK Biobank show associations between high NOVA 4 dietary share and worse health outcomes. The risk increases as ultra-processed food makes up a larger proportion of total intake, not from occasional exposure.
NOVA does not replace nutrition labels. Some Group 3 foods are high in sodium (cured meats, most canned products). Some Group 1 foods are energy-dense (avocados, nuts). NOVA and nutrition information answer different questions. Use both.
NOVA is useful as a heuristic, not a law. The practical value is in shifting dietary patterns toward Groups 1 through 3 as a default. Not in achieving a perfect score or never eating anything from Group 4.
For the research on NOVA 4 specifically (including the Hall et al. controlled trial showing 500 extra calories per day on an ultra-processed diet), see Ultra-Processed Foods Explained.
Frequently asked questions about the NOVA food list
Common questions about where specific foods fall in the NOVA classification.
What does a NOVA score of 4 mean?
NOVA 4 means a food is an ultra-processed industrial formulation. It typically has five or more ingredients including additives like emulsifiers, artificial flavors, sweeteners, hydrogenated oils, or protein isolates that you would not find in a home kitchen. Examples: soda, instant noodles, packaged cookies, most breakfast cereals, frozen pizza, chicken nuggets.
The research concern is specific to Group 4. A 2019 NIH controlled trial found people eating a Group 4-heavy diet consumed about 500 more calories per day compared to a minimally processed diet, even when both were matched for macronutrients.
Is bread NOVA 1, NOVA 3, or NOVA 4?
It depends on how the bread was made. Bread from a bakery using flour, water, yeast, and salt is NOVA 3. Sourdough from an artisan baker (flour, water, salt, starter) is NOVA 3.
Most packaged supermarket bread is NOVA 4. Check the label for dough conditioners (DATEM, azodicarbonamide), emulsifiers (mono- and diglycerides, soy lecithin), added sweeteners, and preservatives. If these appear, the bread is Group 4 regardless of whether the grain is whole wheat or white.
Are eggs always NOVA 1?
Whole eggs in the shell are always NOVA 1 (unprocessed). Plain fresh eggs are one of the clearest examples of Group 1.
Liquid egg whites in a carton with added preservatives or stabilizers move into NOVA 4. Flavored egg products or egg-based scrambles with added seasoning and anti-caking agents are also NOVA 4. The container and the ingredient list tell you more than the product name.
What is the difference between NOVA 3 and NOVA 4?
NOVA 3 foods are recognizable versions of whole foods preserved using simple methods: canning, salting, fermenting. Canned chickpeas (chickpeas, water, salt) are NOVA 3. Aged cheddar (milk, cultures, salt, rennet) is NOVA 3. Sourdough bread is NOVA 3.
NOVA 4 foods are industrial reconstructions made from extracted and modified ingredients combined with additives you would not use at home. The practical test: if you could reasonably make this at home from ingredients in a standard grocery store using standard cooking methods, it is probably Group 3. If it requires an emulsifier, protein isolate, or flavor compound from a manufacturing supplier, it is Group 4.
Is the NOVA classification used by any government?
Yes. Brazil was the first to incorporate NOVA into its official dietary guidelines (2014 edition). Israel, Ecuador, and Uruguay have since referenced NOVA in their national nutrition guidance. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization uses the NOVA framework in global nutrition reports.
Canada and the United States have not formally adopted NOVA in dietary guidelines, but Health Canada's revised food guide (2019) moved away from the older food groups model toward minimally processed whole foods as a foundation, which reflects similar thinking without explicitly using the NOVA framework.
Last reviewed: May 16, 2026