The word 'artificial' is, well, basically bullshit. There's no such thing as 'artificial' (or 'natural'). It all boils down to molecules and atoms, in the end.

What matters is (lack of) toxicity, harmful, LD50, food safety. 'Artificial' however does not and should not imply any of that.

As for

> Is it only me or is this whole preprocessed food stuff the most American thing ever?

I wouldn't say so. There's innovation regarding this throughout the world.

On top of that, cutting down on meat saves the environment. Is saving the environment an American thing...?

I'd wager that fast food is mostly an American invention, but it got picked up throughout the rest of the world. Like preprocessed food it isn't good or bad per definition.