Is Marks & Spencer Bourbon Biscuits ultra-processed?

400 g e Shortbread cookies Sold in the United Kingdom and France

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Dextrose
Flavouring
Glucose
Glucose syrup

10 ingredients
3 additives
Nutri-Score E

Less processed shortbread cookies

Shortbread Fingers Walker’s 9 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 3
All butter shortbread fingers Tesco 10 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 3
All Butter Scottish Shortbread Fingers Marks & Spencer 7 ingredients · 2 additives NOVA group 3
SHORTBREAD all butter fingers Sainsbury's 13 ingredients · 2 additives NOVA group 3

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 (processing marker), Palm Oil, Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder, Glucose Syrup (ultra-processing marker), Dextrose (ultra-processing marker), Wheat Starch (processing marker), Sodium Bicarbonate, e503, Salt (processing marker), Flavouring (ultra-processing marker)

Additives: E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate , E503 Ammonium carbonates

As written on the pack

Wheatflour contains Gluten (with Wheatflour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin)· Sugar, Palm Oil, Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder · Glucose Syrup · Dextrose · Wheat Starch (contains Gluten), Raising Agent: Sodium Bicarbonate, E503 · Salt, Flavouring.

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.

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.

4 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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 87 shortbread cookies

From least to most processed, this one ranks 78th. 45% of the shortbread cookies 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 87 shortbread cookies, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00701662, last edited 15 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 E (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.