ArticlePublic health nutrition2025
Eighty-five percent of menu items from the six highest selling fast-food restaurants in the USA are ultra-processed.
Article in Public health nutrition, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- African American Food Environments and Anti-Inflammatory Intake in Pregnancy.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Global market trends and financial performance of the corporate fast-food industry and their potential contributions to diets high in meat and ultra-processed foods.Globalization and health · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveWhile fast-food is typically considered highly processed, an analysis to demonstrate this has yet to be conducted. Therefore, the objective of this research was to examine the menu items and ingredients from six fast-food restaurant menus using the NOVA classification.
designCross-sectional study.
settingData were collected from the top six highest selling US restaurants, per each food category, identified using the Quick Service and Fast Casual Restaurants (QSR) 2020 report.
participantsA total of 740 menu items were identified and classified according to their degree of processing based on ingredient lists using the NOVA classification: minimally processed (MPF), culinary processed ingredient (CPF), processed (PRF) or ultra-processed (UPF). In addition, individual ingredients that appeared on at least three menus were classified into NOVA groups, and the twenty most common ingredients were identified based on frequency of appearance in ingredient lists.
resultsAcross all menus, 85 % (range: 70-94 %) of items were UPF with only 11 % (range: 6-25 %) being MPF (
conclusionsThese findings show that the vast majority of menu items from major fast-food restaurants are UPF, and there are few options for MPF. Fast-food companies should consider reformulation or the addition of MPF to the menu to increase healthful food options for their patrons.
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