Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Grandma's Chocolate Brownie ultra-processed?

70.8 g (2 1/2 OZ) Biscuits Sold in the United States

Pack of Grandma's Chocolate Brownie

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:

  • 40 ingredients
  • 10 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed biscuits

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

flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), vegetable shortening (palm, canola oil (with tbhq to preserve freshness)), sugar, sweet chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, natural flavors), high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, cocoa powder, fructose, less than 2% of salt, eggs, baking soda, ammonium bicarbonate, mono- and diglycerides, malt extract, corn syrup, corn starch, modified food starch, maltodextrin (made from corn), propylene glycol mono- and diesters of fats and fatty acids, soy lecithin, gum acacia, triglycerides, caramel color, and natural, artificial flavors

Additives: E150c Ammonia caramel , E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E414 Acacia gum , E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate , E503 Ammonium carbonates , E503ii Ammonium hydrogen carbonate , E570 Fatty acids

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

As written on the pack

Enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), vegetable shortening (palm and canola oil [with tbhq to preserve freshness]), sugar, sweet chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, natural flavors), high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, cocoa powder (processed with alkali), fructose and less than 2% of salt, eggs, leavening (baking soda, ammonium bicarbonate), mono - and diglycerides, malt extract, corn syrup, corn starch, modified food starch, maltodextrin (made from corn), propylene glycol mono and diesters of fats and fatty acids, soy lecithin, gum acacia, triglycerides, caramel color, and natural and artificial flavors.

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.
  • E322 Lecithins Lecithins are fatty substances extracted mostly from soybeans, sunflower seeds or eggs, used as emulsifiers to keep fat and water mixed, for example in chocolate.
  • E414 Acacia gum Gum arabic (acacia gum) is the hardened sap of acacia trees, used to stabilise flavour emulsions in soft drinks and to coat sweets.
  • E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids are made from fats and glycerol.
  • 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.

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.
  • High fructose corn syrup High-fructose corn syrup is made from corn starch: enzymes break it down to glucose and convert part of that into fructose, giving a syrup about as sweet as table sugar.
  • Maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a white powder made by partly breaking down starch.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
  • Cocoa powder An ingredient mostly produced industrially and rarely used in home kitchens.
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.

  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Vegetable fat Vegetable fats are oils that are solid at room temperature, such as palm or coconut fat.
  • Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 1,514 biscuits

From least to most processed, this one ranks 1462nd. 83% of the biscuits 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 1,514 biscuits, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0028400079143, last edited 27 August 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.