Is Mexicano Corn Chips ultra-processed?

170 g Corn chips Sold in New Zealand

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Flavour enhancer
Flavouring
E551 Silicon dioxide
E621 Monosodium glutamate

17 ingredients
5 additives
Nutri-Score D

Less processed corn chips

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

corn, vegetable oil (processing marker), seasoning (sugar (processing marker), salt (processing marker), flavour enhancer (ultra-processing marker) (621), tomato, spices, acidity regulators (262‚330), garlic, hydrolysed vegetable protein, anti-caking agents (processing marker) (551‚341), flavourings (ultra-processing marker), spice extracts)

Additives: E262 Sodium acetates , E330 Citric acid , E341 Calcium phosphates , E551 Silicon dioxide , E621 Monosodium glutamate

Also detected, but not matched to one ingredient: E551 Silicon dioxide, E621 Monosodium glutamate.

As written on the pack

corn, vegetable oil, seasoning (sugar, salt, flavour enhancer (621),tomato powder, spices, acidity regulators (262,330), dehydrated garlic, hydrolysed vegetable protein (soy), anti-caking agents (551,341), flavourings, spice extracts)

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.

E551 Silicon dioxide A food additive used to dissolve, dilute, disperse or otherwise physically modify a food additive or nutrient without altering its function -and without exerting any technological effect itself- in order to facilitate its handling, application or use of the food additive or nutrient.
E621 Monosodium glutamate Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, made by fermentation and used to strengthen savoury taste.
Flavour enhancer Flavour enhancers such as monosodium glutamate (E621) strengthen savoury taste without adding a flavour of their own.
Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.

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.
Anti-caking agent Anti-caking agents are substances which reduce the tendency of individual particles of a foodstuff to adhere to one another.
Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
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 359 corn chips

From least to most processed, this one ranks 263rd. 46% of the corn chips 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 359 corn chips, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 9415684000245, last edited 5 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.
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.