Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Marks & Spencer Apple & Cinnamon Crunch ultra-processed?

500g Breakfast cereals Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Marks & Spencer Apple & Cinnamon Crunch

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:

  • 39 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

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

Oat Flakes 59%, Sugar, Vegetable Oil (Sunflower Vegetable Oil, Rapeseed Vegetable Oil), Cornflakes (Maize Flour, Salt), Rice Crisp (Rice Flour, Wheatflour, Sugar, Malted Barley, Salt), Red Apples 3%, White Chocolate, Cornflakes 3% (Sugar, Maize, Cocoa Butter, Dried Whole Milk, Emulsifier (Lecithins), Glazing Agent (Gum Arabic), Glucose Syrup, Barley Malt Extract, Flavouring, Salt), Glucose Syrup, Desiccated Coconut, Concentrated Apple Juice, Flavouring, Honey, Cinnamon, Salt, Caramelised Sugar, Antioxidant (Tocopherol-Rich Extract)

Additives: E306 Tocopherol-rich extract , E322 Lecithins , E414 Acacia gum

As written on the pack

Oat Flakes (59%), Sugar, Vegetable Oil (Sunflower/Rapeseed), Cornflakes (Maize Flour, Salt), Rice Crisp (Rice Flour, Wheatflour (contains Gluten), Sugar, Malted Barley (contains Gluten), Salt), Dried Red Apples (3%), White Chocolate, Coated Cornflakes (3%) (Sugar, Maize, Cocoa Butter, Dried Whole Milk, Emulsifier: Lecithins (Soya), Glazing Agent: Gum Arabic, Glucose Syrup, Barley Malt Extract (contains Gluten), Flavouring, Salt), Glucose Syrup, Desiccated Coconut, Concentrated Apple Juice, Flavouring, Honey, Cinnamon, Salt, Caramelised Sugar, Antioxidant: Tocopherol-Rich Extract

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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Glazing agent Glazing agents, waxes and shellac for example, coat a surface to make it shiny or stop pieces sticking together.

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.
  • Glucose syrup Glucose syrup is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
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.

  • Honey Honey, used as a sweetener.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • 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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 1,868 breakfast cereals

From least to most processed, this one ranks 1827th. 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 29313013, 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 C (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.