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Visual and Textual Framing by Coalitions in a Policy Controversy8144.1 Introduction In everyday talk, “processed food” often has a negative connotation: it is associated with salty, unhealthy, industrially manufactured foods that in the academic literature would be classified as ultra-processed foods (see Text box 1 for explanation). Very often processed foods are opposed to “natural” or “clean” foods (Baker & Walsh, 2020; “clean” food is “unprocessed food considered to be as close to its whole form and natural state as possible”, Lupton, 2018, p. 71). However, preparing and cooking foods in our own kitchens – cutting, heating, adding sugar and salt, turning into a puree – is also food processing. Despite this imprecise use of the term processed food in everyday speak, these discursive and visual (mis)representations of processed food in media and new-media are interesting to study as they depict how an online general public is interpreting processed foods. In addition, since the internet is an important source of information for the general public, these (mis)representations are influential on public opinion formation and even political decision-making (Clancy & Clancy, 2016; Rojas-Padilla et al., 2022).The rapidly growing popularity of food on digital platforms (de Solier, 2018; Lewis, 2018; Lupton, 2020) turned these platforms into key spaces to discuss foodrelated issues, to the extent that “thinking about food through digitized media has become mainstream” (Rousseau, 2012, p. 92). Digitized information about food is accessed through internet search engines (Lupton, 2018), which present information provided by various actors such as nutrition specialists, policymakers, academics, industry, bloggers, and NGOs. These actors share knowledge and also manifest their views, sometimes by disclosing (visual) information that otherwise remains hidden or inaccessible (Schneider et al., 2018). Online, visualizations are used extensively to represent food (Lupton, 2020); producing visualizations or engaging with them is everyday practice (Lewis, 2018). Online visualizations communicate meanings about food-related issues and may enhance or limit the credibility of the information given about food (Baker & Walsh, 2020).Efrat.indd 81 19-09-2023 09:47