Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Carr's Melts Cheese ultra-processed?

150 g Crackers (Appetizers) Sold in the United Kingdom and France

Pack of Carr's Melts Cheese

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:

  • 15 ingredients
  • 5 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed crackers (Appetizers)

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

Wheat Flour, Vegetable Oils (Coconut Vegetable Oils, Palm Vegetable Oils), Cheese 9%, Sugar, Dried Onion, Natural Flavouring (contains Whey, Lactose), Ammonium Bicarbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Poppy Seeds, Salt, Carotenes

Additives: E160a Carotene , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate , E503 Ammonium carbonates , E503ii Ammonium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

Wheat Flour, Vegetable Oils (Coconut, Palm), Dried Cheese Powder (9%) (Milk), Sugar, Dried Onion, Natural Flavouring (contains Dried Whey (Milk), Lactose (Milk)), Raising Agents (Ammonium Bicarbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Poppy Seeds, Salt, Colour (Carotenes).

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.

  • E160a Carotene Carotenes are orange-yellow pigments, either synthesised or extracted from carrots, algae or palm oil.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.

Substances rarely used in home kitchens

Refined or extracted in factories, such as syrups made from starch or isolated proteins. The other hallmark of ultra-processed food.

  • Lactose Lactose is milk sugar, crystallised industrially from whey, a by-product of cheese making.
  • Whey Whey is the liquid left over from cheese making, usually dried into a powder and used as a cheap source of milk solids, protein and lactose.
5 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.

  • Salty snacks Products in the category "Salty snacks" are at least group 3.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.
  • Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 715 crackers (Appetizers)

From least to most processed, this one ranks 589th. 61% of the crackers (Appetizers) 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 715 crackers (Appetizers), least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5000168085593, last edited 11 September 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.