Is Tillamook Medium cheddar shredded cheese ultra-processed?

8 oz Cheeses Sold in the United States

Pack of Tillamook Medium cheddar shredded cheese

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:

  • 9 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

Cultured milk, salt (processing marker), enzymes (processing marker), annatto (ultra-processing marker) (color (ultra-processing marker)), potato starch (processing marker) (added to prevent caking (processing marker)), natamycin (natural mold inhibitor (processing marker))

Additives: E160b Annatto , E235 Natamycin

As written on the pack

Cultured milk, salt, enzymes, annatto (color), potato starch (added to prevent caking), natamycin (natural mold inhibitor).

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.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
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.

  • Cheeses Products in the category "Cheeses" are at least group 3.
  • Anti-caking agent Anti-caking agents are substances which reduce the tendency of individual particles of a foodstuff to adhere to one another.
  • Preservative Preservatives slow spoilage by microbes.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Enzyme Enzymes carry out traditional processes such as cheese making and baking.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 1,224 cheeses

From least to most processed, this one ranks 953rd. 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 0072830001007, last edited 20 February 2023), 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 D (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.