The Hanseatic League was an important trading network during the twelfth-seventeenth centuries. In addition to trading goods and maintaining standards, the League also helped to spread ideas and concepts—in particular in northern Europe during the Enlightenment. The League was in part protectionist and countered the great empires of the time (Spain, France and England) and was, therefore a barrier against economic stress. In the case of organisms, they also have to deal with biotic and abiotic stress and have developed various responses. One of these is the production of heat shock proteins (HSPs) while another is the upregulation of pathways leading to the production of secondary natural products. Stress responses are interlinked and have significant consequences. They are also linked to post-harvest events including processing and storage. In addition, some secondary natural products are inhibitors of autolytic enzymes and can, therefore, play a role in the maintenance of food structural integrity. The role of antioxidants both in maintaining foods and in subsequent health benefits for consumers has been extensively studied however results have been inconsistent and methodologies may not be sufficiently sensitive to detect minor perturbations (positive and negative). The role of ultraprocessed food (UPF) in health and disease has been widely discussed however the most popular system (NOVA) is contentious. The possibility of using a system based on the metabolism of some secondary natural products as a multivariate indicator of the level of processing could be pursued.