Is it ultra-processed?
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Is McVities Digestives White Chocolate ultra-processed?

Chocolate-covered biscuits Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of McVities Digestives White Chocolate

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:

  • 28 ingredients
  • 7 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed chocolate 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

wheatmeal biscuits covered in white chocolate (Flour (39°%), Wheat Four), Calcun, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin, White Chocolate 28% (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Dried Whole Milk, Lactose, Whey (Millk), Soya Lecithin, e476, Natural Vanilla Flavouring), Palm Oi, Wheat Four 99%, Sugar, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Sodium Bicarbonate, MalicAcid Ammonium Bicarbonate, Salt, and allergens, including cereals containing gluten, see in bolel

Additives: E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E476 Polyglycerol polyricinoleate , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate , E503 Ammonium carbonates , E503ii Ammonium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

WHEATMEAL BISCUITS COVERED IN WHITE CHOCOLATE : Flour (39°%) (Wheat Four, Calcun, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), White Chocolate (28%) [Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Dried Whole Milk, Lactose (Milk), Dried Whey (Millk), Emulsifiers (Soya Lecithin, E476) Natural Vanilla Flavouring] Palm Oi, Wholemeal Wheat Four (99%), Sugar, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Raising Agents (Sodium Bicarbonate, MalicAcid Ammonium Bicarbonate), Salt. or allergens, including cereals containing gluten, see in bolel

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.
  • E476 Polyglycerol polyricinoleate Polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR) is an emulsifier made from castor oil.
  • 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.

  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • Lactose Lactose is milk sugar, crystallised industrially from whey, a by-product of cheese making.
  • Whey Whey is the liquid left over from cheese making, usually dried into a powder and used as a cheap source of milk solids, protein and lactose.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn 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.

  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • 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 24 chocolate-covered biscuits

From least to most processed, this one ranks 18th. 96% of the chocolate-covered 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 24 chocolate-covered biscuits, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5000168040752, last edited 1 October 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.