Is Pepperidge farm cookies ultra-processed?
Yes, it's ultra-processed
- 1 Unprocessed
- 2 Kitchen staple
- 3 Processed
- 4 Ultra-processed
Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:
- 30 ingredients
- 7 additives
- Nutri-Score E
Less processed biscuits
Ingredients
Ultra-processing Processing
Made from (enriched wheat flour, flour), niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, sugar (processing marker), butter (processing marker), corn syrup (ultra-processing marker), high fructose corn syrup (ultra-processing marker), strawberry puree, cornstarch (processing marker), palm, soybean, hydrogenated soybean oils (processing marker), contains 2% and less of (strawberry juice concentrate), eggs, pectin (ultra-processing marker), nonfat milk, soy protein, baking soda, citric acid, strawberry, salt (processing marker), cream of tartar, sodium citrate, caramel color
Additives: E150c Ammonia caramel , E330 Citric acid , E336 Potassium tartrates , E336i Monopotassium tartrate , E440 Pectins , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate
As written on the pack
Made from: enriched wheat flour (flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), sugar, butter, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, strawberry puree, cornstarch, palm and/or soybean and hydrogenated soybean oils, contains 2% or less of: strawberry juice concentrate, eggs, pectin, nonfat milk, soy protein, baking soda, citric acid, strawberry seeds, salt, cream of tartar, sodium citrate, caramel color. contains: wheat, milk, eggs, soy.
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.
- E150c Ammonia caramel Ammonia caramel is a brown colour made by heating sugars with ammonia compounds.
- E440 Pectins Pectins are gelling agents extracted from citrus peel or apple pomace.
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.
- High fructose corn syrup High-fructose corn syrup is made from corn starch: enzymes break it down to glucose and convert part of that into fructose, giving a syrup about as sweet as table sugar.
- Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
6 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.
- Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
- 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 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.
Among 1,514 biscuits
From least to most processed, this one ranks 1063rd. 83% of the biscuits here are ultra-processed.
About this information
- Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0014100074649, last edited 2 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 E (from A, best, to E).
- General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.