While exact figures are limited on the consumption of ultra-processed food (UPF) in Africa, it is clear that since the 2000s and 2010s, there has been a continued spread of processed and ultra-processed food in both urban and rural areas across Africa. The African continent is heterogeneous in terms of dietary patterns, with the percentage of UPF being consumed varying by urban/rural residence, age, family structure and economic status among and within countries (Holmes et al., 2017). While there is still a high consumption of vegetables, legumes and whole grains in the region compared to much of the world, there is a clear trend of diets increasingly dependent on readily available, cheap, and nutritionally-void UPF (Hollinger & Staatz, 2015; Dolislage et al., 2019; Ronto et al., 2018). Table 1 illustrates common foods in Africa across a spectrum of processing.