Is General Mills Cheerios ultra-processed?

20 oz Extruded cereals Sold in the United States

It's processed, but not ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Whole foods combined with:

Salt
Starch
Sugar

30 ingredients
2 additives
Nutri-Score C

Less processed extruded cereals

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

oats, corn starch (processing marker), sugar (processing marker), salt (processing marker), tripotassium phosphate, vitamin e (mixed tocopherols), added to preserve freshness, vitamins, minerals (calcium carbonate), iron, zinc (mineral nutrients), vitamin c (sodium ascorbate), a b vitamin (niacinamide), vitamins, vitamin b6, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin a (palmitate), vitamins, vitamin b1, thiamin mononitrate, a b vitamins, folic acid, vitamin b12, vitamin d3

Additives: E340 Potassium phosphates , E340iii Tripotassium phosphate

As written on the pack

whole grain oats, corn starch, sugar, salt, tripotassium phosphate, vitamin e (mixed tocopherols) added to preserve freshness, vitamins and minerals: calcium carbonate, iron and zinc (mineral nutrients), vitamin c (sodium ascorbate), a b vitamin (niacinamide), vitamin b6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), vitamin a (palmitate), vitamin b1 (thiamin mononitrate), a b vitamin (folic acid), vitamin b12, vitamin d3,

What makes it processed

Culinary ingredients

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.
Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 373 extruded cereals

From least to most processed, this one ranks 129th. 64% of the extruded cereals 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 373 extruded cereals, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0016000125414, last edited 23 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 C (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.