Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Sanitarium Light'n'Tasty ultra-processed?

525g Cereal flakes with fruits Sold in New Zealand

Pack of Sanitarium Light'n'Tasty

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:

  • 49 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed cereal flakes with fruits

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

Cereals 67% (wholegrains 51% (wheat, oats, whole wheat flour), corn, rice, puffed wheat, wheat bran), sugar, dried fruits 9% (sultanas, fruit purees (apple, apricot 1%, mango, banana), pineapple juice), humectant (glycerol), invert sugar, corn maltodextrin, minerals (calcium, iron), glucose syrup, barley malt extract, salt, wheat gluten, maize starch, honey, wheat fibre, acids (citric, acetic), gelling agent (pectin), natural flavours, natural colours (annatto, turmeric), vitamins, niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, folate, vitamin E, natural sweetener (stevia extract)

Additives: E160b Annatto , E422 Glycerol , E440 Pectins

As written on the pack

Cereals (67%) [wholegrains (51%) (wheat, oats, whole wheat flour), corn, rice, puffed wheat, wheat bran], sugar, dried fruits (9%) [sultanas, fruit purees (apple, apricot (1%), mango, banana), pineapple juice], humectant (glycerol), invert sugar, corn maltodextrin, minerals (calcium, iron), glucose syrup, barley malt extract, salt, wheat gluten, maize starch, honey, wheat fibre, acids (citric, acetic), gelling agent (pectin), natural flavours, natural colours. (annatto, turmeric), vitamins (niacin, thiamin, riboflavin, folate, E), natural sweetener (stevia extract). Contains cereals containing gluten. May contain milk, soy, sesame, lupin, tree nuts and sulphites.

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.

  • E160b Annatto Colours are substances which add or restore colour in a food, and include natural constituents of foods and natural sources which are normally not consumed as foods as such and not normally used as characteristic ingredients of food.
  • E422 Glycerol Glycerol is a sweet-tasting liquid used to keep products moist and soft.
  • E440 Pectins Pectins are gelling agents extracted from citrus peel or apple pomace.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • Gelling agent Gelling agents such as pectin, gelatine or carrageenan set liquids into gels and stabilise textures.
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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.
  • Sweetener Sweeteners give sweetness with few or no calories, many at hundreds of times the strength of sugar.

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.
  • Glucose syrup Glucose syrup is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • Gluten Wheat gluten, sold as "vital wheat gluten", is the protein washed out of wheat flour.
  • Invert sugar Invert sugar is ordinary sugar split into glucose and fructose with acid or enzymes.
  • Maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a white powder made by partly breaking down starch.
  • Vegetable fiber Isolated plant fibres, such as inulin, oat fibre or bamboo fibre, are extracted industrially and added to change texture or support "source of fibre" claims.
4 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.

  • Honey Honey, used as a sweetener.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 27 cereal flakes with fruits

From least to most processed, this one ranks 27th. 63% of the cereal flakes with fruits 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 27 cereal flakes with fruits, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 9414942013508, last edited 12 October 2024), 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 C (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.