Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Marks & Spencer Cheese tasters ultra-processed?

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Pack of Marks & Spencer Cheese tasters

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:

  • 9 ingredients
  • 2 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

Corn Grits 53%, Sunflower Oil Dried Whey, Cheese, Lactose, Salt, Dried Yeast Extract Dried Cream, Dried Skimmed Milk Colour (Paprika Extract), Curcumin

Additives: E100 Curcumin , E160c Paprika extract

As written on the pack

• Corn Grits (53%) Sunflower Oil Dried Whey (Milk). Dried Cheese (Milk) (3.7%) Lactose (Milk) · Salt. Dried Yeast Extract Dried Cream (Milk). Dried Skimmed Milk Colour: Paprika Extract, Curcumin. For allergens see ingredients in bold. Suitable for vegetarians

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.

  • E100 Curcumin Colours are substances which add or restore colour in a food, and include natural constituents of foods and natural sources which are normally not consumed as foods as such and not normally used as characteristic ingredients of food.
  • E160c Paprika extract Paprika extract is a red-orange colour extracted from paprika peppers.

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.

  • Lactose Lactose is milk sugar, crystallised industrially from whey, a by-product of cheese making.
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.
  • Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

How the NOVA groups work

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00630061, 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 E (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.