What exactly does “processed food” mean? According to a new position paper from the American Society For Nutrition (ASN) processing means “the alteration of foods from the state in which they are harvested or raised to better preserve them and feed consumers.” By this definition, processed foods encompass everything from washed raw spinach and frozen strawberries to Betty Crocker’s Cheesy Scalloped boxed potatoes (a box of the latter is made up of reconstituted ingredients held together with partially hydrogenated oils, artificial dyes, and the sodium equivalent of 60 potato chips per serving).