Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Southern Grove Lightly salted cashews ultra-processed?

1.35oz Biscuits Sold in the United States

Pack of Southern Grove Lightly salted cashews

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
  • 9 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed biscuits

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

flour, wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate vitamins, vitamin b1, riboflavin vitamins, vitamin b2, folic acid, canola oil, palm oil, whey, wheat starch, sugar, semisoft cheese powder (milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes), high fructose corn syrup, salt, buttermilk solids, leavening (calcium phosphate, baking soda), sodium phosphate, soy lecithin, butter, enzyme-modified butteroil, calcium phosphate, lactic acid, yellow 5, yellow 6, vegetable color (annatto, turmeric), peanut

Additives: E102 Tartrazine , E110 Sunset yellow FCF , E270 Lactic acid , E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E339 Sodium phosphates , E341 Calcium phosphates , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

unbleached enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate vitamin b1, riboflavin vitamin b2, folic acid), canola oil, palm oil, whey, wheat starch, sugar, semisoft cheese powder (pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes), high fructose corn syrup, salt, buttermilk solids, leavening (calcium phosphate and/or baking soda), sodium phosphate, soy lecithin, butter, enzyme-modified butteroil, calcium phosphate, lactic acid, yellow 5, yellow 6, vegetable color (annatto extract and turmeric), peanut,

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.

  • E102 Tartrazine Tartrazine is a synthetic yellow azo dye (FD&C Yellow No. 5 in the US).
  • E110 Sunset yellow FCF Sunset yellow FCF is a synthetic orange azo dye (FD&C Yellow No. 6 in the US).
  • 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.

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.
  • High fructose corn syrup High-fructose corn syrup is made from corn starch: enzymes break it down to glucose and convert part of that into fructose, giving a syrup about as sweet as table sugar.
  • 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.
  • 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.

  • Salty snacks Products in the category "Salty snacks" are at least group 3.
  • Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
  • 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.
  • Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 1,514 biscuits

From least to most processed, this one ranks 1307th. 83% of the biscuits 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 1,514 biscuits, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0044000002114, last edited 27 April 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.