Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Butterkist Sweet & Salty Microwave Popcorn ultra-processed?

180g Sugared popcorn Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Butterkist Sweet & Salty Microwave Popcorn

Yes, it's ultra-processed

  1. 1 Unprocessed
  2. 2 Kitchen staple
  3. 3 Processed
  4. 4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

  • 8 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed sugared popcorn

Less processed isn't automatically healthier, so compare the labels for what matters to you, such as sugar or salt.

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

Maize, Palm Oil, Salt, Sweeteners, Sucralose, Isomalt, Emulsifier, Lecithins

Additives: E322 Lecithins , E953 Isomalt , E955 Sucralose

As written on the pack

Maize, Palm Oil, Salt, Sweeteners, Sucralose, Isomalt, Emulsifier, Lecithins

What makes it ultra-processed

Cosmetic additives

Added to change how the food looks, feels or tastes, not to keep it safe. A hallmark of ultra-processed food.

  • E322 Lecithins Lecithins are fatty substances extracted mostly from soybeans, sunflower seeds or eggs, used as emulsifiers to keep fat and water mixed, for example in chocolate.
  • E953 Isomalt Stabilisers are substances which make it possible to maintain the physico-chemical state of a foodstuff; stabilisers include substances which enable the maintenance of a homogenous dispersion of two or more immiscible substances in a foodstuff, substances which stabilise, retain or intensify an existing colour of a foodstuff and substances which increase the binding capacity of the food, including the formation of cross-links between proteins enabling the binding of food pieces into re-constituted food.
  • E955 Sucralose Sucralose is a sweetener made by chlorinating sugar.
  • Emulsifier Emulsifiers keep fat and water from separating, giving products a smooth, stable texture over a long shelf life.
  • Sweetener Sweeteners give sweetness with few or no calories, many at hundreds of times the strength of sugar.
2 ingredients that would only make it processed

Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.

  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 16 sugared popcorn

From least to most processed, this one ranks 15th. 75% of the sugared popcorn here are ultra-processed.

Ranked by NOVA group, then by the number of ultra-processing signs, additives and ingredients. Our ordering, not part of NOVA.

All 16 sugared popcorn, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5000237129753, last edited 27 March 2026), available under the Open Database License. If something is wrong or the recipe has changed, you can correct it there.
  • Photo: Open Food Facts contributors, CC BY-SA 3.0.
  • The NOVA group is an automated estimate from crowdsourced data: a missing or mistyped ingredient can change it.
  • NOVA measures processing, not nutrition. For nutrition, Open Food Facts gives this product a Nutri-Score of E (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.