Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Holly Lane 5 Chocolate Chip Cake Bars ultra-processed?

130g Sponge cakes Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Holly Lane 5 Chocolate Chip Cake Bars

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:

  • 33 ingredients
  • 8 additives
  • Nutri-Score D

Less processed desserts

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

wheat flour, rapeseed oil, egg, milk chocolate chips 13%, sugar, whole milk powder, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, whey powder, skimmed milk powder, emulsifier (lecithins), flavouring, glucose-fructose syrup, stabiliser (glycerol), sugar, egg white, whey powder, flavouring, emulsifiers (mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, polyglycerol esters of fatty acids), raising agents (ammonium carbonates, glucono delta-lactone, potassium carbonates), rice starch, maize starch, thickeners (xanthan gum, guar gum), salt

Additives: E322 Lecithins , E412 Guar gum , E415 Xanthan gum , E422 Glycerol , E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids , E475 Polyglycerol esters of fatty acids , E503 Ammonium carbonates , E575 Glucono-delta-lactone

As written on the pack

wheat flour, rapeseed oil, pasteurised egg , milk chocolate chips 13% (sugar, whole milk powder, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, whey powder ( milk ), skimmed milk powder, emulsifier (lecithins ( soya )), flavouring), glucose-fructose syrup, stabiliser (glycerol), sugar, pasteurised egg white, whey powder ( milk ), flavouring, emulsifiers (mono - and diglycerides of fatty acids, polyglycerol esters of fatty acids), raising agents (ammonium carbonates, glucono delta-lactone, potassium carbonates), rice starch, maize starch, thickeners (xanthan gum, guar gum), salt,

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.

  • 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.
  • E412 Guar gum Guar gum is a thickener ground from the seeds of the guar plant.
  • E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
  • E422 Glycerol Glycerol is a sweet-tasting liquid used to keep products moist and soft.
  • E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids are made from fats and glycerol.
  • E475 Polyglycerol esters of fatty acids Emulsifiers are substances which make it possible to form or maintain a homogenous mixture of two or more immiscible phases such as oil and water in a foodstuff.
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  • Emulsifier Emulsifiers keep fat and water from separating, giving products a smooth, stable texture over a long shelf life.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • Thickener Thickeners, often gums or modified starches, make liquids more viscous so that a product feels richer than its ingredients alone would make it.

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.

  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • Whey Whey is the liquid left over from cheese making, usually dried into a powder and used as a cheap source of milk solids, protein and lactose.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
5 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.
  • Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.
  • Milk powder Milk powder is milk with the water evaporated off: a preserved form of a whole food rather than an industrial extract.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 13 sponge cakes

From least to most processed, this one ranks 10th. 100% of the sponge cakes 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 13 sponge cakes, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 4088600247977, 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.