Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Quaker Rice Cakes ultra-processed?

140 g Puffed rice cakes Sold in Canada

Pack of Quaker 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:

  • 43 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, corn (with germ removed), seasoning (cheddar cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), salt, whey imilk buttermilk, milk ingredients, corn maltodextrin, natural and artificial flavour, corn starch, modified corn starch, citric acid, yeastextract, potassium chloride, tricalcium phosphate, onion, ascorbic acid, tocopherols, ascorbyl palmitate), milk ingredients, butter blend, butter (cream, salt, skim milk powder, tocopherols, ascorbyl palmitate, silicon dioxide), sunflower oil, glucose, salt, natural and artificial flavours (soy, milk, mustard), modified corn starch, lacticacid, ingredients, danotiueatin toasted od microalave deceal dacto drecedve erecunecs

Additives: E304 Fatty acid esters of ascorbic acid , E304i Ascorbyl palmitate , E330 Citric acid

As written on the pack

whole grain brown rice, corn (with germ removed), seasoning (cheddar cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), salt, whey imilk buttermilk, milk ingredients, corn maltodextrin, natural and artificial flavour, corn starch, modified corn starch, citric acid, yeastextract, potassium chloride, tricalcium phosphate, onion powder, ascorbic acid, tocopherols, ascorbyl palmitate), milk ingredients, butter blend (butter (cream, salt, skim milk powder, tocopherols, ascorbyl palmitate, silicon dioxide), sunflower oil, glucose solids, salt, natural and artificial flavours (soy, milk, mustard), modified corn starch, lacticacid. contains milk, soy, and mustard ingredients. danotiueatin toasted od microalave deceal dacto drecedve erecunecs

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.

  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • Modified starch Modified starch is starch altered physically, with enzymes or chemically, so that it thickens, gels or survives freezing and heating better than ordinary starch.

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.
  • Maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a white powder made by partly breaking down 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.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.
  • Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.
  • 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 127th. 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 0055577107874, last edited 6 June 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.