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Is McVitie's Penguin Biscuit Bar ultra-processed?

24.6 g Candy chocolate bars Sold in the United Kingdom and France

Pack of McVitie's Penguin Biscuit Bar

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:

  • 26 ingredients
  • 7 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed candy chocolate bars

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

Milk Chocolate Flavour Coating 29% (Sugar, Vegetable Oils (Palm, Shea), Cocoa Mass, Skimmed Milk, Whey, Butter Oil, Soya Lecithin, e476, Natural Flavouring), Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Sugar, Palm Oil, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder, Sodium Bicarbonate, Ammonium Bicarbonate, Natural Flavouring, Salt

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

Milk Chocolate Flavour Coating (29%) [Sugar, Vegetable Oils (Palm, Shea), Cocoa Mass, Dried Skimmed Milk, Dried Whey (Milk), Butter Oil (Milk), Emulsifiers (Soya Lecithin, E476), Natural Flavouring], Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Sugar, Palm Oil, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder, Raising Agents (Sodium Bicarbonate, Ammonium Bicarbonate), Natural Flavouring, Salt.

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

How the NOVA groups work

Among 201 candy chocolate bars

From least to most processed, this one ranks 148th. 94% of the candy chocolate bars 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 201 candy chocolate bars, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 50168064, last edited 13 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.