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Is Marks & Spencer Hand Cooked Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper Crisps ultra-processed?

Potato crisps Sold in the United Kingdom and France

Pack of Marks & Spencer Hand Cooked Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper Crisps

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:

  • 12 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score D

Less processed potato crisps

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

Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (Rapeseed oil, Sunflower Oil), Maltodextrin, Potato Starch, Sea Salt, Black Pepper, Yeast Extract, Sugar, Citric Acid, Black Pepper Extract

Additives: E330 Citric acid

As written on the pack

Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (Rapeseed oil, Sunflower Oil), Maltodextrin, Potato Starch, Sea Salt, Crushed Black Pepper, Yeast Extract, Sugar, Citric Acid, Black Pepper Extract

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.

  • Maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a white powder made by partly breaking down starch.
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.

  • Salty snacks Products in the category "Salty snacks" are at least group 3.
  • 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 oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 622 potato crisps

From least to most processed, this one ranks 244th. 66% of the potato crisps 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 622 potato crisps, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00155656, last edited 25 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 D (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.