Is M&S Food Malted Wheats ultra-processed?

750g Breakfast cereals Sold in the United Kingdom

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Invert sugar

15 ingredients
No additives
Nutri-Score A

Less processed breakfast 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

Wheat 90%, Sugar (processing marker), Barley Malt Extract, Golden Syrup (ultra-processing marker) (Invert Sugar Syrup), Salt (processing marker), Iron, Niacin, vitamins, vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin D, Thiamin Vitamin B6, Riboflavin, Folic Acid

As written on the pack

Wholemeal Wheat (90%), Sugar, Barley Malt Extract, Golden Syrup (Invert Sugar Syrup), Salt, Iron, Niacin, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin D, Thiamin Vitamin B6, Riboflavin, Folic Acid.

What makes it ultra-processed

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.

Invert sugar Invert sugar is ordinary sugar split into glucose and fructose with acid or enzymes.

2 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.
Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 1,868 breakfast cereals

From least to most processed, this one ranks 954th. 60% of the breakfast 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 1,868 breakfast cereals, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 29310616, 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 A (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.