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Food processing and global trade flows: What are the trends?

Blog post Published on 02/12/2025
By Eriya Chea, Siramane Coulibaly, Mateo Ferrero, Chen Lu, Thomas Verbeet and Erik Wijkström

Economies around the world are increasingly adopting public health policies aimed at improving nutrition and reducing the onset of diseases such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes. In parallel, public health agencies and researchers are focusing more and more on whether the processing of foods (through the use of additives, preservatives and flavourings) negatively affects health. So, what are the trends for trade in various categories of food and what tariff levels do economies apply?
Food processing and global trade flows: What are the trends?
 This blog examines trade flows and tariff structures to explore possible linkages between trade policies and types of food, by processing category, traded across borders. The aim is to highlight patterns in the data only. It does not imply that trade policy is an appropriate tool for improving health outcomes, nor that food processing itself necessarily poses health risks. 
 
Tariffs and food processing categories

Using the NOVA classification, which categorizes foods by the degree of processing they have undergone, we have mapped tariffs to the level of food processing to examine possible trade and nutrition linkages.

The NOVA food classification system categorizes foods into four groups according to their degree of processing, ranging from unprocessed to ultra-processed foods. It has been widely applied in scientific literature, although critics argue that it is too broad and inconsistently applied.

The four NOVA categories may be grouped into three broad clusters:

  • Unprocessed food (NOVA Group 1): This category includes unprocessed or minimally processed food products, accounting for about 60 per cent of all food products under consideration (e.g., fresh fruits and vegetables, unprocessed wheat, oats and other cereals, and lentils, chickpeas and other legumes).
  •  Processed foods (NOVA Groups 2 and 3): This category simplifies the NOVA classification to include both culinary ingredients (e.g., oils, fat, sugar and salt) and moderately processed items (e.g., canned vegetables, cheese and bread). They represent about 32 per cent of the food products under consideration.
  • Ultra-processed foods (NOVA Group 4): About 8 per cent of the food products under consideration (e.g., ice cream, sugary drinks, packaged snacks and instant noodles).

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