The Nova scale quantifies how processed a food is, and is explained i this BMJ article . Here is the Nova scale.
Nova 1: Unprocessed or minimally processed foods: Fresh, dried, grounded, chilled, frozen, pasteurized, or fermented staple foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, rice, pasta, eggs, meat, fish, or milk.
Nova 2: Processed culinary ingredients: Substances usually extracted from foods, not to be consumed by themselves, but for use in preparing staple foods for consumption such as salt, vegetable oils, butter, and sugar.
Nova 3: Processed foods: Canned vegetables with added salt, meat and fish products preserved by salting, cheeses and freshly made unpackaged breads, sugar coated dried fruits, and other products manufactured with the addition of salt, sugar, or other group 2 ingredients.
Nova 4: Ultra-processed foods: Food that has undergone intense industrial physical, chemical, or biological processes (eg, hydrogenation, extruding, preprocessing by frying) or that contains industrial substances not usually found in domestic kitchens (eg, maltodextrin, hydrogenated oils, or modified starches), cosmetic additives (eg, dyes, emulsifiers, artificial sweeteners), or flavoring agents.