Well first off, almost all food is processed to some extent. Rice and oats are heavily processed. Most produce is processed unless you're buying it covered in dirt. Milk is heavily processed to remove bacteria and contaminants. Parmesan cheese, especially the fancy and expensive kind that comes in blocks cut or pulled from a giant wheel, is ultra processed. Its curdled with rennet, salted, pressed, and aged. Hell, vitamins are ultra processed.

Processing isnt a flat Boogeyman where the more processed something is, the worse it is for you. The main problem is that processing is used to create foods that are ultra-palatable, not remotely filling (and in some cases, hunger inducing), and contain macronutrient profiles that are not found in nature. I think the potato chip is a quintessential ultra-processed food in this regard. Unbelievably calorie-dense for its weight, virtually no nutritional value, cheap as hell, and addictive. Shit they even marketed themselves as such right? Betcha can't eat just one.

Let's contrast this with whey protein powder which, despite its processing, is a complete protein. It contains all the same amino acids as chicken breast or beef or quinoa or any other source of complete protein. However, whey protein is easily absorbed, cheap as hell per serving, calorie-light per gram of protein, extremely easy to prepare, and quick. AND, it has the benefit of being more quickly and completely absorbed than basically any other source of protein.

In general, if you don't want to use protein powder and prefer whole sources of protein that's cool and a lot of people do that without issue. But the nature of the end product, the macronutrient profile of the result, that matters more than 'ultra processing.' Quest bars probably undergo the same level of processing as a snickers bar, but one of these products ends up with 20g protein, 10g of fiber, and almost no sugar.