[piaste]

"Processed" is a slightly confusing shorthand for "has undergone processes which either damaged its nutritional properties or added a ton of unhealthy shit for the sake of becoming more appealing and/or easier to preserve and consume".

A chopped apricot or a smoked salmon are in a literal sense processed food, but nobody is referring to that kind of processes. Rather, they're referring to the processes that turn an apricot into a Sachertorte, or a salmon into spreadable salmon-flavoured cheese. Dehydrating, extensive cooking, adding massive amounts of salt/sugar/fats - processes that destroy vitamins and other nutritionally important characteristics and mix the original food with large quantities of unhealthy ingredients.

[lostmsu]

> spreadable salmon-flavoured cheese

Sounds like cheese to me.

[nine_k]

It's a combination where both parts play a key role. Much like a jam needs both fruit and sugar, or a bar of chocolate needs both cocoa powder and cocoa butter; neither component is a small addition, and neither can be omitted.