Comment by audunw

Yes and no. It's not a good word, but it has generally been defined in a way that wouldn't include any of the steps you mentioned.

One common description is that it includes lots of ingredients you wouldn't find in your kitchen.

It sometimes also includes ingredients that have been turned into extremely fine powder, and other very heavy industrial processing. My way of thinking of this is: adults shouldn't eat baby food. Some fast food essentially becomes way to easy to absorb.

I think this interview had a really good description about the problems of the "ultra-processed" label.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAPgzCiSk9Y&t=377s

But at least the label is triggering some interesting discussions and awareness about bad aspects of industrial fast food.