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Is Nature Valley Dark Chocolate Peanut & Almond Chewy Granola Bar ultra-processed?

34 g Cereal bars Sold in the United States and France

Pack of Nature Valley Dark Chocolate Peanut & Almond Chewy Granola 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
  • 5 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed cereal 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

Roasted peanuts, corn syrup, sugar, oats, dark chocolate chunks (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, natural flavor), palm kernel oil, rice flour, almonds, wheat, fructose, cocoa, vegetable glycerin, canola oil, salt, soy lecithin, corn starch, barley malt extract, milk, baking soda, natural flavor, mixed tocopherols added to retain freshness

Additives: E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E422 Glycerol , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate

Also detected, but not matched to one ingredient: E422 Glycerol.

As written on the pack

Roasted peanuts, corn syrup, sugar, whole grain oats, dark chocolate chunks (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, natural flavor), palm kernel oil, rice flour, almonds, whole grain wheat, fructose, cocoa, vegetable glycerin, canola oil, salt, soy lecithin, corn starch, barley malt extract, milk, baking soda, natural flavor, mixed tocopherols added to retain freshness.

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.
  • E422 Glycerol Glycerol is a sweet-tasting liquid used to keep products moist and soft.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • 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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 488 cereal bars

From least to most processed, this one ranks 315th. 91% of the cereal 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 488 cereal bars, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0016000507333, last edited 17 July 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.