Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Tesco Chunky Chocolate Cookies ultra-processed?

200g Cookies with milk chocolate Sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland

Pack of Tesco Chunky Chocolate 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:

  • 44 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

Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium, Folic Acid, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Dark Chocolate Chunks 16% (Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter, Palm Fat, Sal Fat, Shea Fat, Mango Kernel Fat, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithins)), Milk Chocolate Chunks 16% (Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Dried Whole Milk, Cocoa Butter, Whey Powder, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithins), Palm Fat, Sal Fat, Shea Fat, Mango Kernel Fat), Palm Oil, Sugar, Oatmeal, Invert Sugar Syrup, Desiccated Coconut, Glucose Syrup, Raising Agents (Ammonium Hydrogen Carbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Disodium Diphosphate), Molasses, Salt, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithins), Flavouring

Additives: E322 Lecithins , E450 Diphosphates , E450i Disodium diphosphate , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate , E503 Ammonium carbonates , E503ii Ammonium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium, Folic Acid, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin], Dark Chocolate Chunks (16%) [Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter, Palm Fat, Sal Fat, Shea Fat, Mango Kernel Fat, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithins)], Milk Chocolate Chunks (16%) [Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Dried Whole Milk, Cocoa Butter, Whey Powder (Milk), Emulsifier (Soya Lecithins), Palm Fat, Sal Fat, Shea Fat, Mango Kernel Fat], Palm Oil, Sugar, Oatmeal, Invert Sugar Syrup, Desiccated Coconut, Glucose Syrup, Raising Agents (Ammonium Hydrogen Carbonate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Disodium Diphosphate), Molasses, Salt, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithins), 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.
  • E450 Diphosphates Diphosphates are phosphate salts used as raising agents in baking powder, and to hold water in processed meats and cheese.
  • 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.

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.
  • Invert sugar Invert sugar is ordinary sugar split into glucose and fructose with acid or enzymes.
  • 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.
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.

  • Chocolates Products in the category "Chocolates" are at least group 3.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Vegetable fat Vegetable fats are oils that are solid at room temperature, such as palm or coconut fat.
  • Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.
  • Milk powder Milk powder is milk with the water evaporated off: a preserved form of a whole food rather than an industrial extract.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 11 cookies with milk chocolate

From least to most processed, this one ranks 7th. 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 5054402920805, last edited 28 June 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.