Is Marks & Spencers all butter cookies with stem ginger and oats ultra-processed?

200g Dry biscuits Sold in the United Kingdom, France and 2 more countries

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Invert sugar
E450 Diphosphates

16 ingredients
4 additives
Nutri-Score E

Less processed dry 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

Salted Butter (processing marker) 24% (Butter, Salt (processing marker)), Crystallised Stem Ginger 18% (Stem Ginger, Sugar (processing marker)), Sugar (processing marker), Oat Flakes 12%, Golden Syrup (ultra-processing marker) (Invert Sugar Syrup), Ground Ginger, Raising Agent (e503), Sodium Bicarbonate, e450 (ultra-processing marker), Skimmed Milk

Additives: E450 Diphosphates , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate , E503 Ammonium carbonates

As written on the pack

Wheatflour contains Gluten (with Wheatflour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, nut Niacin, Thiamin) · Salted Butter (24%) (Butter (Milk) · Salt) · Crystallised Stem Ginger (18%) (Stem Ginger · Sugar) · Sugar · Oat Flakes (12%) · Golden Syrup (Invert Sugar Syrup) · Ground Ginger · Raising Agent: E503, Sodium Bicarbonate, E450 · Dried Skimmed Milk.

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.

E450 Diphosphates Diphosphates are phosphate salts used as raising agents in baking powder, and to hold water in processed meats and cheese.

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.

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.

Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
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 68 dry biscuits

From least to most processed, this one ranks 29th. 84% of the dry 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 68 dry biscuits, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00394697, last edited 4 June 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.