Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Sainsbury's Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies ultra-processed?

5 Cookies with milk chocolate Sold in the United Kingdom and Spain

Pack of Sainsbury's Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

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:

  • 37 ingredients
  • 7 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed chocolate chip cookies

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

Fortified Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Sugar, Milk Chocolate Chunks 19% (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Cows' Milk, Whey Powder (Cows' Milk), Emulsifier (Soya Lecithin)), Vegetable Margarine (Palm Oil, Rapeseed Oil, Water, Coconut Oil, Emulsifier (mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids), Flavouring), Palm Oil, Soluble Gluco Fibre, Rapeseed Oil, Humectant (Vegetable Glycerine), Whey Powder (Cows' Milk), Raising Agents (Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate), Diphosphates, Molasses, Water, Flavouring

Additives: E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E422 Glycerol , E450 Diphosphates , E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

Fortified Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Sugar, Milk Chocolate Chunks (19%) (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Whole Cows' Milk Powder, Whey Powder (Cows' Milk), Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin), Vegetable Margarine (Palm Oil, Rapeseed Oil, Water, Coconut Oil, Emulsifier: Mono - and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids; Flavouring), Palm Oil, Soluble Gluco Fibre, Rapeseed Oil, Humectant: Vegetable Glycerine; Whey Powder (Cows' Milk), Raising Agents: Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate, Diphosphates; Molasses, Water, Flavouring.

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.
  • E422 Glycerol Glycerol is a sweet-tasting liquid used to keep products moist and soft.
  • E450 Diphosphates Diphosphates are phosphate salts used as raising agents in baking powder, and to hold water in processed meats and cheese.
  • E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids are made from fats and glycerol.
  • Emulsifier Emulsifiers keep fat and water from separating, giving products a smooth, stable texture over a long shelf life.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
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  • Humectant Humectants are substances which prevent foods from drying out by counteracting the effect of an atmosphere having a low degree of humidity, or promote the dissolution of a powder in an aqueous medium.

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.

  • 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.
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.

  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.
  • Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 11 cookies with milk chocolate

From least to most processed, this one ranks 6th. 100% of the cookies with milk chocolate 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 11 cookies with milk chocolate, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 01066418, last edited 27 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.