Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Great Value Parmesan ultra-processed?

170 g Pasteurized cheeses Sold in the United States and Mexico

Pack of Great Value Parmesan

It's processed, but not ultra-processed

  1. 1 Unprocessed
  2. 2 Kitchen staple
  3. 3 Processed
  4. 4 Ultra-processed

Whole foods combined with:

  • 9 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed cheeses

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

parmesan cheese (pasteurized part-skim milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes), potato starch, powdered cellulose added to prevent caking, natamycin (a natural mold inhibitor)

Additives: E235 Natamycin

As written on the pack

parmesan cheese (pasteurized part-skim milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes), potato starch and powdered cellulose added to prevent caking, natamycin (a natural mold inhibitor),

What makes it processed

Processed ingredients

Processed foods in their own right, such as cheese or milk powder.

  • Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

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.

Preservation and traditional processing

Keep food safe or ferment it, like preservatives and cultures. A sign of processing, not ultra-processing.

Category rules

Open Food Facts puts every product in this category in at least this group.

  • Cheeses Products in the category "Cheeses" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 31 pasteurized cheeses

From least to most processed, this one ranks 24th. 23% of the pasteurized cheeses 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 31 pasteurized cheeses, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0078742283357, last edited 19 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 E (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.