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

Puffed rice cakes Sold in the United States

Pack of Quaker White Cheddar 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:

  • 24 ingredients
  • 2 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, degerminated milled corn, nonfat dry milk, buttermilk powder, salt, cheddar cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), butter (cream, salt), whey, sunflower oil with natural tocopherol added to preserve freshness, corn syrup solids, maltodextrin, natural and artificial flavor, modified food starch, citric acid, yeast extract, potassium chloride, lactic acid, milk fat, onion

Additives: E270 Lactic acid , E330 Citric acid

As written on the pack

Whole grain brown rice, degerminated milled corn, nonfat dry milk, buttermilk powder, salt, cheddar cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), butter (cream, salt), whey, sunflower oil with natural tocopherol added to preserve freshness, corn syrup solids, maltodextrin, natural and artificial flavor , modified food starch, citric acid, yeast extract, potassium chloride, lactic acid, milk fat, onion powder.

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.

  • Maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a white powder made by partly breaking down starch.
  • Whey Whey is the liquid left over from cheese making, usually dried into a powder and used as a cheap source of milk solids, protein and lactose.
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.

  • Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Milk powder Milk powder is milk with the water evaporated off: a preserved form of a whole food rather than an industrial extract.
  • Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 142 puffed rice cakes

From least to most processed, this one ranks 122nd. 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 0030000169094, last edited 31 May 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.