Is McVitie's rich tea ultra-processed?

Biscuits Sold in the United Kingdom

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Glucose
Fructose

13 ingredients
2 additives

Less processed 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

Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Sugar (processing marker), Palm Oil, Glucose-Fructose Syrup (ultra-processing marker), Barley Malt Extract, Soum Bicarbonate, Ammonium Bicarbonate, Salt (processing marker)

Additives: E503 Ammonium carbonates , E503ii Ammonium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Sugar, Palm Oil, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Barley Malt Extract, Raising Agents (Soum Bicarbonate, Ammonium Bicarbonate), Salt.

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.

Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.

3 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.
Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 1,514 biscuits

From least to most processed, this one ranks 455th. 83% of the 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 1,514 biscuits, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5000168005980, last edited 14 August 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.
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.