Is General Mills Multi Grain Cherios with Real Strawberries ultra-processed?

Extruded cereals Sold in the United States

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Colour
E150c Ammonia caramel

42 ingredients
3 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, sugar (processing marker), corn starch (processing marker), rice, corn bran, strawberries, sorghum, millet, corn syrup, salt (processing marker), tripotassium phosphate, color (ultra-processing marker) (caramel color, annatto), vitamin e (mixed tocopherols), added to preserve freshness, vitamins, minerals (calcium carbonate), iron, zinc (mineral nutrients), a b vitamin (niacinamide), vitamin c (sodium ascorbate), a b vitamin (calcium pantothenate), vitamin bs (pyridoxine hydrochloride), vitamin b2 (riboflavin), vitamin b (thiamin mononitrate), áb vitamins, folic acid, vitamin b12, vitamin a (palmitate), vitamin d3

Additives: E150c Ammonia caramel , E340 Potassium phosphates , E340iii Tripotassium phosphate

Also detected, but not matched to one ingredient: E150c Ammonia caramel.

As written on the pack

whole grain oats, whole grain corn, sugar, corn starch, whole grain rice, corn bran, dried strawberries, whole grain sorghum, whole grain millet, corn syrup, salt, tripotassium phosphate, color (caramel color, annatto extract). vitamin e (mixed tocopherols) added to preserve freshness. vitamins and minerals: calcium carbonate, iron and zinc (mineral nutrients), a b vitamin (niacinamide), vitamin c (sodium ascorbate), a b vitamin (calcium pantothenate), vitamin bs (pyridoxine hydrochloride), vitamin b2 (riboflavin), vitamin b, (thiamin mononitrate), áb vitamin (folic acid), vitamin b12, vitamin a (palmitate), vitamin d3.

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.

E150c Ammonia caramel Ammonia caramel is a brown colour made by heating sugars with ammonia compounds.
Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.

3 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.
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 254th. 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 0016000161672, last edited 4 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.