Is it ultra-processed?
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Is General Mills Lucky Charms with unicorn marshmallows ultra-processed?

Oat Sold in the United Kingdom and Canada

Pack of General Mills Lucky Charms with unicorn marshmallows

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:

  • 20 ingredients
  • 8 additives
  • Nutri-Score D

Less processed oat

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, Sugar, Golden Sugar, Corn Starch, Corn Syrup, Dextrose, Salt Calcium Carbonate, Gelatine (from Pork), Trisodium Phosphate, High Monounsaturated Canola Dextrose, Artificial colours (e102, e105, e129, e133), Grahams Salt, Tocopherols, Natural and Artificial Flavour, Monoglycerides

Additives: E102 Tartrazine , E105 Fast Yellow AB , E129 Allura red , E133 Brilliant blue FCF , E306 Tocopherol-rich extract , E339 Sodium phosphates , E339iii Trisodium phosphate , E428 Gelatine

As written on the pack

Whole Grain Oats, Sugar and/or Golden Sugar, Corn Starch, Corn Syrup, Dextrose, Salt Calcium Carbonate, Gelatine (from Pork), Trisodium Phosphate, High Monounsaturated Canola Dextrose, Artificial colours (E102, E105, E129, E133) Grahams Salt, Tocopherols, Natural and Artificial Flavour, Monoglycerides

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.

  • E102 Tartrazine Tartrazine is a synthetic yellow azo dye (FD&C Yellow No. 5 in the US).
  • E105 Fast Yellow AB A food additive authorised for industrial food production.
  • E129 Allura red Allura red AC is a synthetic red azo dye (FD&C Red No. 40 in the US).
  • E133 Brilliant blue FCF Brilliant blue FCF is a synthetic blue dye, listed in the US as FD&C Blue No. 1.
  • E428 Gelatine Gelatine is a gelling agent made from collagen in animal skin and bones.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
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  • 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.

  • Dextrose Dextrose is pure glucose crystallised from starch-derived syrup.
  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
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.

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

How the NOVA groups work

Among 103 oat

From least to most processed, this one ranks 103rd. 16% of the oat 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 103 oat, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0065633132122, 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 D (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.