Yeah that's like saying "sandwiches are just ground up wheat, plus a ton of delicious filling to make them taste good"
First of all, it implies that industrial processes are less healthy than manual processes. But in my opinion, it makes no difference if sodium nitrate is added in a meat processing plant, or by an artisanal butcher on locally sourced hand made organic bacon. The health effects are going to be the same.
Secondly, it implies that there is something bad about "processing" in general, whatever is meant by that. But I think that most people would agree that pasteurizing milk is a good thing for our health, even though it is a form of "processing".
Using processing as an end-all heuristic loses sight of the characteristic that the heuristic is trying to approximate.
And an example of a nutrient that can be too bioavailable for some people is heme-iron, yet if you were to follow nutrition influencers online you might think that heme-iron was essential. A young man doesn't necessary want it. Yet anemic women might.
Very confusing space to navigate which I think is one of the main reasons we tend to get sucked into diet camps, all of them promising to cut through the BS while coming to vastly different conclusions.
Im not saying its bad, or being processed is bad, but its manufactured at scale with additional ingredients to make it shelf stable. Its not the same thing you make at home. Frankly I think thats fine.
Maybe it has helped remove built up lead from long term exposure before unleaded gasoline was mandated.
It has rapeseed oil, which to me seems dubious since it requires special processing to make it non-toxic.
It only has 5.1% eggs (according to the label).
It also has "flavorings", thickeners and coloring agents.
So yeah, it's nothing like the homemade mayo I make, which only has olive oil, a bunch of eggs, mustard, and indeed some salt. Mine doesn't need any sort of coloring and is thick enough.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapeseed_oil#Erucic_acid
While it says it's "generally considered safe", I prefer not to take any chances, just like I prefer to avoid plastic containers for my food, especially if hot (even though some plastics are "microwave safe").
---
I realize wikipedia isn't the greates of sources. Here are two more
NIH https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9962393/
Says it doesn't seem to be toxic in low quantities, but should be investigated more. To me, that means "rather avoid if possible".
--
European Food Safety Authority says roughly the same:
I mean, unless you prefer to drink the cheapest cooking oil you can find in your supermarket, you might want to avoid the mayo as well. (disclaimer: I occasionally drink EVOO directly)
These days, it’s actually listed as compatible with heart healthy diets (the oil is typically a “good fat”, and the eggs raise cholesterol levels data is weak at best)
Which seems to qualify as food, as well. Cheese, whey, milk, buttermilk, onion powder, MSG, etc. Nothing too scary on the list.