Is No Name Maraschino Cherries in Extra Heavy Syrup ultra-processed?

375 mL Cherries Sold in Canada

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Flavouring
Glucose
Fructose
E129 Allura red

11 ingredients
4 additives
Nutri-Score D

Less processed cherries

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

Sugars (processing marker) (sugar, glucose-fructose (ultra-processing marker)), Cherries, Water, Citric acid, Potassium sorbate (processing marker), Sodium benzoate, Artificial flavour (ultra-processing marker), Allura red (ultra-processing marker), May contain pits and pit fragments

Additives: E129 Allura red , E202 Potassium sorbate , E211 Sodium benzoate , E330 Citric acid

As written on the pack

Sugars (sugar/glucose-fructose), Cherries (sulphites), Water, Citric acid, Potassium sorbate, Sodium benzoate, Artificial flavour, Allura red. May contain pits and/or pit fragments.

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.

E129 Allura red Allura red AC is a synthetic red azo dye (FD&C Red No. 40 in the US).
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.

2 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.

E202 Potassium sorbate Preservatives are substances which prolong the shelf-life of foods by protecting them against deterioration caused by micro-organisms and/or which protect against growth of pathogenic micro-organisms.
Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 9 cherries

From least to most processed, this one ranks 9th. 11% of the cherries 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 9 cherries, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0060383037178, last edited 1 April 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.