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The ultra-processed food industry in Africa

Nature Food volume 4, pages 534–536 (2023)Cite this article

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The recent involvement of Nestlé in the Africa Food Prize reinforces the presence of the ultra-processed food industry in the continent and invites us to reflect on the implications this may have for Africa’s sustainable food systems agenda.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. South African Medical Research Council/Wits Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science, School of Public Health, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Petronell Kruger, Mikateko Mafuyeka & Karen Hofman

  2. Bio-economy Research Chair, Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Rachel Wynberg

  3. Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana

    Amos Laar

  4. Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Mélissa Mialon

  5. Children’s Institute, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Lori Lake

  6. DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence for Food Security, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa

    Chantell Witten

  7. Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

    Nicholas Nisbett

  8. Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia

    Phillip Baker

Authors
  1. Petronell Kruger
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  2. Rachel Wynberg
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  3. Mikateko Mafuyeka
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  4. Amos Laar
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  5. Mélissa Mialon
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  6. Lori Lake
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  7. Chantell Witten
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  8. Nicholas Nisbett
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  9. Phillip Baker
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  10. Karen Hofman
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Contributions

Conceptualization: P.K., R.W., M. Mafuyeka, M. Mialon, P.B. and K.H.; Original draft preparation: P.K. All authors reviewed, edited and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Petronell Kruger or Mikateko Mafuyeka.

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Competing interests

P.K., M. Mafuyeka and K.H. are supported by the SAMRC/Wits Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science – PRICELESS SA (Grant number 23108).

Peer review

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Nature Food thanks Molly Anderson, Johanna Jacobi and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Kruger, P., Wynberg, R., Mafuyeka, M. et al. The ultra-processed food industry in Africa. Nat Food 4, 534–536 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00802-0

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