Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Marks & Spencer Belgian Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies ultra-processed?

170 g Gluten-free biscuits Sold in the United Kingdom and France

Pack of Marks & Spencer Belgian Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies

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:

  • 31 ingredients
  • 6 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed gluten-free biscuits

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

Sugar, Butter, Rice Flour, Belgian Dark Chocolate Chunks 14% (Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter, Soya Lecithin, Vanilla Flavouring), Belgian Milk Chocolate Chunks 8% (Sugar, Died Whole Milk, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Soya Lecithin, Vanilla Flavouring), Belgian White Chocolate Chunks 7% (Sugar, Dried Whole Milk, Cocoa Butter, Soya Lecithin, Vanilla Flavouring), Tapioca Starch, Corn Starch, Maize Flour, Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder, Golden Syrup, Sodium Bicarbonate, e450, Salt, Xanthan Gum

Additives: E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E415 Xanthan gum , E450 Diphosphates , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

Sugar, Butter (Milk) (15%), Rice Flour, Belgian Dark Chocolate Chunks (14%) (Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter, Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin, Vanilla Flavouring), Belgian Milk Chocolate Chunks (8%) (Sugar, Died Whole Milk, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin, Vanilla Flavouring), Belgian White Chocolate Chunks (7%) (Sugar, Dried Whole Milk, Cocoa Butter, Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin, Vanilla Flavouring), Tapioca Starch, Corn Starch, Maize Flour, Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder, Golden Syrup, Raising Agent: Sodium Bicarbonate; E450, Salt, Stabiliser: Xanthan Gum.

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.
  • E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
  • E450 Diphosphates Diphosphates are phosphate salts used as raising agents in baking powder, and to hold water in processed meats and cheese.
  • 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.

  • Invert sugar Invert sugar is ordinary sugar split into glucose and fructose with acid or enzymes.
7 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.

  • Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
  • 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.
  • 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 12 gluten-free biscuits

From least to most processed, this one ranks 12th. 83% of the gluten-free biscuits 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 12 gluten-free biscuits, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00939133, last edited 26 April 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.