Is it ultra-processed?
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Is General Mills Cheerios Oat Crunch ultra-processed?

Extruded cereals Sold in Canada

Pack of General Mills Cheerios Oat Crunch

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:

  • 31 ingredients
  • 5 additives
  • Nutri-Score D

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, Sugars (sugar, golden sugar, honey), corn, Modified corn starch, High monounsaturated canola, canola, high monounsaturated sunflower oil, Brown rice flour, Salt, Corn starch, Tricalcium phosphate, Calcium carbonate, Caramel, annatto (for colour), Baking soda, Tocopherols (for freshness), Natural flavour, Rosemary extract, Iron, Niacinamide (vitamin B3), Calcium pantothenate (vitamin B5), Pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), Folate

Additives: E160b Annatto , E306 Tocopherol-rich extract , E392 Extracts of rosemary , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

Whole grain oats, Sugars (sugar and/or golden sugar, honey), Whole grain corn, Modified corn starch, High monounsaturated canola, canola and/or high monounsaturated sunflower oil, Brown rice flour, Salt, Corn starch, Tricalcium phosphate, Calcium carbonate, Caramel and annatto (for colour), Baking soda, Tocopherols (for freshness), Natural flavour, Rosemary extract, Iron, Niacinamide (vitamin B3), Calcium pantothenate (vitamin B5), Pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), Folate

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.

  • E160b Annatto Colours are substances which add or restore colour in a food, and include natural constituents of foods and natural sources which are normally not consumed as foods as such and not normally used as characteristic ingredients of food.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • Modified starch Modified starch is starch altered physically, with enzymes or chemically, so that it thickens, gels or survives freezing and heating better than ordinary starch.
4 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.

  • Honey Honey, used as a sweetener.
  • 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 309th. 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 0065633164420, last edited 8 May 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 D (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.