Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Pilsbury Cookie dough monster ultra-processed?

1 lb Biscuits Sold in the United States

Pack of Pilsbury Cookie dough monster

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:

  • 48 ingredients
  • 10 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

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

Sugar, flour (wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), oats, palm oil, peanut butter (peanuts, dextrose, canola, cottonseed oil, water), candy pieces (dark chocolate (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla), sugar, color (yellow lake 5 and 6, red lake 40, blue lake 1 and 2, yellow 6), gum arabic, corn syrup, confectioner's glaze (shellac, carnauba wax, beeswax)), chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, natural flavor), molasses, eggs, baking powder (baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate), salt, ingredients

Additives: E110 Sunset yellow FCF , E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E414 Acacia gum , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate , E541 Sodium aluminium phosphate , E901 White and yellow beeswax , E903 Carnauba wax , E904 Shellac

As written on the pack

Sugar, enriched flour bleached (wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), whole grain oats, palm oil, peanut butter (peanuts, dextrose, hydrogenated canola and cottonseed oil, water), candy pieces (dark chocolate [sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla], sugar, color [yellow lake 5 & 6, red lake 40, blue lake 1 & 2, yellow 6], gum arabic, corn syrup, confectioner's glaze [shellac, carnauba wax, beeswax]), chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, natural flavor), molasses, eggs, baking powder (baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate), salt. Contains wheat, peanuts, soy, and egg; may contain milk and macadamia ingredients.

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.

  • E110 Sunset yellow FCF Sunset yellow FCF is a synthetic orange azo dye (FD&C Yellow No. 6 in the US).
  • 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.
  • E414 Acacia gum Gum arabic (acacia gum) is the hardened sap of acacia trees, used to stabilise flavour emulsions in soft drinks and to coat sweets.
  • E901 White and yellow beeswax 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.
  • E903 Carnauba wax Carnauba wax comes from the leaves of a Brazilian palm and gives sweets and coated chocolates their shine.
  • E904 Shellac Shellac is a resin secreted by lac insects, used as a glazing agent on sweets, coated chocolates and fruit.
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  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
  • 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.

  • Dextrose Dextrose is pure glucose crystallised from starch-derived syrup.
  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • Canola An ingredient mostly produced industrially and rarely used in home kitchens.
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.
  • 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.
  • 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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 1,514 biscuits

From least to most processed, this one ranks 1440th. 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 0018000137039, last edited 18 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.