Is Tower Gate Fruit and nut cookies ultra-processed?
Yes, it's ultra-processed
- 1 Unprocessed
- 2 Kitchen staple
- 3 Processed
- 4 Ultra-processed
Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:
- 30 ingredients
- 4 additives
- Nutri-Score E
Less processed chocolate biscuits
Ingredients
Ultra-processing Processing
Cookies with 16% milk chocolate coating, raisins 5%, hazelnut 4%, milk chocolate chunks 3%, dark chocolate chunks 3%, dark chocolate chips 3%, desiccated coconut 2%, Ingredients Sugar, Wheat Flour, Vegetable Oil (processing marker) (Palm Vegetable Oil, Sunflower Vegetable Oil), Oat Flour, Cocoa Mass, Raisins, Hazelnuts, Dried Whole Milk (processing marker), Cocoa Butter** Desiccated Coconut, Glucose-Fructose Syrup (ultra-processing marker), Lactose (ultra-processing marker), Egg, Raising Agents (Diphosphates (ultra-processing marker)), Carbonates, Sodium Carbonates, Ammonium Emulsifier (Soy Lecithins (ultra-processing marker)), Skimmed Milk, Natural Vanilla Flavouring (ultra-processing marker), Find out more at ra.org
Additives: E322 Lecithins , E450 Diphosphates , E500 Sodium carbonates , E502 Carbonates
As written on the pack
Cookies with 16% milk chocolate coating, 5% raisins, 4% hazelnut, 3% milk chocolate chunks, 3% dark chocolate chunks, 3% dark chocolate chips and 2% desiccated coconut. Ingredients Sugar, Wheat Flour, Vegetable Oil (Palm, Sunflower), Oat Flour, Cocoa Mass**, Raisins, Hazelnuts, Dried Whole Milk, Cocoa Butter** Desiccated Coconut, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Lactose (Milk), Dried Egg, Raising Agents: Diphosphates, Carbonates; Sodium Carbonates, Ammonium Emulsifier: Soy Lecithins; Dried Skimmed Milk, Natural Vanilla Flavouring. **Rainforest Alliance Certified. Find out more at ra.org.
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.
- 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.
- Lactose Lactose is milk sugar, crystallised industrially from whey, a by-product of cheese making.
- Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
3 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.
- Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.
- 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.
Among 301 chocolate biscuits
From least to most processed, this one ranks 165th. 95% of the chocolate biscuits here are ultra-processed.
About this information
- Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 4056489542940, last edited 25 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.