Is Sainsbury's Wensleydale&cranbery ultra-processed?

200g Cheeses Sold in the United Kingdom

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:

  • 14 ingredients
  • 2 additives
  • Nutri-Score D

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

Wensleydale Cheese (processing marker) (Cows' Milk), Cranberry 13% (Sugar (processing marker), Cranberry, Sunflower Oil (processing marker)), Fructose (ultra-processing marker), Preservative (processing marker) (Potassium Sorbate (processing marker)), Acidity Regulator (Acetic Acid), Safety (Made with pasteurised milk, pase)

Additives: E202 Potassium sorbate , E260 Acetic acid

As written on the pack

Wensleydale Cheese (Cows' Milk) (82%), Dried Cranberry (13%) (Sugar, Cranberry, Sunflower Oil), Fructose, Preservative: Potassium Sorbate, Acidity Regulator: Acetic Acid. Allergy advice: For allergens, see ingredients in bold. Safety: Made with pasteurised milk. PASE

What makes it ultra-processed

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.

  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn 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.

  • E202 Potassium sorbate Preservatives are substances which prolong the shelf-life of foods by protecting them against deterioration caused by micro-organisms and/or which protect against growth of pathogenic micro-organisms.
  • Cheeses Products in the category "Cheeses" are at least group 3.
  • Preservative Preservatives slow spoilage by microbes.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.
  • 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 866th. 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 01132724, 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.
  • 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.