# Machine learning and natural language processing models to predict the extent of food processing

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.17217 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.17217/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 4 of its 36 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 23 Dec 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [XGBoost: A Scalable Tree Boosting System](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.02754/) (2016)
- [LEGAL-BERT: The Muppets straight out of Law School](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.02559/) (2020)
- [k-Nearest Neighbour Classifiers: 2nd Edition (with Python examples)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.04523/) (2020)
- [The choice of scaling technique matters for classification performance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.12343/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Application of machine learning to predict food processing level using Open Food Facts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.17169/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The dramatic increase in consumption of ultra-processed food has been associated with numerous adverse health effects. Given the public health consequences linked to ultra-processed food consumption, it is highly relevant to build computational models to predict the processing of food products. We created a range of machine learning, deep learning, and NLP models to predict the extent of food processing by integrating the FNDDS dataset of food products and their nutrient profiles with their reported NOVA processing level. Starting with the full nutritional panel of 102 features, we further implemented coarse-graining of features to 65 and 13 nutrients by dropping flavonoids and then by considering the 13-nutrient panel of FDA, respectively. LGBM Classifier and Random Forest emerged as the best model for 102 and 65 nutrients, respectively, with an F1-score of 0.9411 and 0.9345 and MCC of 0.8691 and 0.8543. For the 13-nutrient panel, Gradient Boost achieved the best F1-score of 0.9284 and MCC of 0.8425. We also implemented NLP based models, which exhibited state-of-the-art performance. Besides distilling nutrients critical for model performance, we present a user-friendly web server for predicting processing level based on the nutrient panel of a food product: https://cosylab.iiitd.edu.in/food-processing/.