Is KitKat Crunchy Cereal ultra-processed?
Yes, it's ultra-processed
- 1 Unprocessed
- 2 Kitchen staple
- 3 Processed
- 4 Ultra-processed
Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:
- 29 ingredients
- 3 additives
- Nutri-Score C
Less processed extruded cereals
Ingredients
Ultra-processing Processing
wheat 31.4%, maize semolina, sugar (processing marker), dextrose (ultra-processing marker), palm oil, wheat flour, cocoa powdert 5.4%, glucose syrup (ultra-processing marker), wheat starch (processing marker), skimmed milk powder (processing marker), sunflower oil (processing marker), calcium carbonate, barley malt extract, fat-reduced cocoa powdert, flavourings (ultra-processing marker), cocoa butter (processing marker), salt (processing marker), cocoa masst, lecithin (ultra-processing marker), whey powder (ultra-processing marker), milk fat, tocopherols, iron, vitamins, vitamin b3, vitamin b5, vitamin b6, vitamin b2, vitamin b9
Additives: E306 Tocopherol-rich extract , E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin
As written on the pack
whole grain wheat (31,4%), maize semolina, sugar, dextrose, palm oil, wheat flour, cocoa powdert (5,4%), glucose syrup, wheat starch, skimmed milk powder, sunflower oil, calcium carbonate, barley malt extract, fat-reduced cocoa powdert, flavourings, cocoa butter, salt, cocoa masst, emulsifier: lecithin, whey powder (milk), milk fat, antioxidant: tocopherols, iron, vitamin b3, b5, b6, b2, b9
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.
- 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.
- Glucose syrup 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.
6 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.
- Vegetable fat Vegetable fats are oils that are solid at room temperature, such as palm or coconut fat.
- Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.
- Milk powder Milk powder is milk with the water evaporated off: a preserved form of a whole food rather than an industrial extract.
Among 373 extruded cereals
From least to most processed, this one ranks 335th. 64% of the extruded cereals here are ultra-processed.
About this information
- Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 8445290740854, last edited 26 September 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.