Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Pop Tarts Apple Jacks ultra-processed?

Toaster pastries Sold in the United States

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:

  • 27 ingredients
  • 10 additives
  • Nutri-Score D

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

flour, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, soybean, palm oil, sugar, wheat starch, degerminated yellow corn flour, wheat flour, glycerin, salt, wheat flour, leavening, soy lecithin, apple, malted barley, gelatin, cornstarch, malic acid, citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, turmeric, xanthan gum, yellow 6 lake, red 40, blue 1

Additives: E110 Sunset yellow FCF , E129 Allura red , E133 Brilliant blue FCF , E296 Malic acid , E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E330 Citric acid , E415 Xanthan gum , E422 Glycerol , E428 Gelatine

As written on the pack

Enriched flour, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, soybean and palm oil, sugar, wheat starch, degerminated yellow corn flour, bleached wheat flour, glycerin, salt, wheat flour, leavening, soy lecithin, apple powder, malted barley, gelatin, cornstarch, malic acid, citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, turmeric, xanthan gum, yellow 6 lake, red 40, blue 1

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).
  • E129 Allura red Allura red AC is a synthetic red azo dye (FD&C Red No. 40 in the US).
  • E133 Brilliant blue FCF Brilliant blue FCF is a synthetic blue dye, listed in the US as FD&C Blue No. 1.
  • 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.
  • E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
  • E422 Glycerol Glycerol is a sweet-tasting liquid used to keep products moist and soft.
Show 2 more
  • E428 Gelatine Gelatine is a gelling agent made from collagen in animal skin and bones.
  • 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.
  • 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.
4 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.
  • Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 12 toaster pastries

From least to most processed, this one ranks 4th. 100% of the toaster pastries 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 12 toaster pastries, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0038000278815, last edited 24 March 2025), available under the Open Database License. If something is wrong or the recipe has changed, you can correct it there.
  • 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.