Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Sainsbury's German Smoked Cheese ultra-processed?

150g Cheeses Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Sainsbury's German Smoked Cheese

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:

  • 8 ingredients
  • 4 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed cheeses

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

Cheese (Cows' Milk), Butter (Cows' Milk), Water, Emulsifying Salts (Sodium Polyphosphates), Trisodium Phosphates

Additives: E339 Sodium phosphates , E339iii Trisodium phosphate , E452 Polyphosphates , E452i Sodium polyphosphate

As written on the pack

Cheese (Cows' Milk) (79%), Butter (Cows' Milk), Water, Emulsifying Salts: Sodium Polyphosphates, Trisodium Phosphates.

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.

  • E452 Polyphosphates Emulsifiers are substances which make it possible to form or maintain a homogenous mixture of two or more immiscible phases such as oil and water in a foodstuff.
3 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.

  • Cheeses Products in the category "Cheeses" are at least group 3.
  • Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
  • Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 1,224 cheeses

From least to most processed, this one ranks 890th. 38% of the cheeses 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 1,224 cheeses, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00450584, last edited 5 March 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.