Is it ultra-processed?
Menu

Is Quaker Chocolate Rice Cakes ultra-processed?

205 g Puffed rice cakes Sold in the United States

Pack of Quaker Chocolate Rice Cakes

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:

  • 20 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score D

Less processed puffed rice cakes

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

brown rice, sugar, fructose, milk chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate liquor, dry whole milk, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla extract), corn maltodextrin, cocoa, natural flavor, vegetable oil (canola, sunflower oil), salt, soy lecithin, tocopherols (to preserve freshness)

Additives: E306 Tocopherol-rich extract , E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin

As written on the pack

Whole grain brown rice, sugar, fructose, milk chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate liquor, dry whole milk, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla extract), corn maltodextrin, cocoa, natural flavor, vegetable oil (canola and/or sunflower oil), salt, soy lecithin, tocopherols (to preserve 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.
  • 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.

  • Maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a white powder made by partly breaking down starch.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Milk powder Milk powder is milk with the water evaporated off: a preserved form of a whole food rather than an industrial extract.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 142 puffed rice cakes

From least to most processed, this one ranks 126th. 63% of the puffed rice cakes 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 142 puffed rice cakes, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0030000169476, last edited 20 August 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.