Is Trader Joe's Apple Pie Spread ultra-processed?

10 oz Sweet spreads Sold in the United States

It's processed, but not ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Whole foods combined with:

Butter
Salt
Starch
Sugar

10 ingredients
No additives
Nutri-Score E

Less processed sweet spreads

That's it. 1 Apple + 1 Mango Fruit Bar That's it 2 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 1
Blueberry Superfood Fruit Spread Smash Foods 4 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 1
Apple & Cinnamon St Dalfour 2 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 1
Cherry Pomegranate Chia Smash Oswald 6 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 1

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

Apples, tapioca syrup, cane sugar (processing marker), brown sugar (processing marker), butter (processing marker), water, cornstarch (processing marker), lemon juice concentrate, cinnamon, sea salt (processing marker)

As written on the pack

Apples, tapioca syrup, cane sugar, brown sugar, butter, water, cornstarch, lemon juice concentrate, cinnamon, sea salt. Contains milk.

What makes it processed

Culinary ingredients

Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.

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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 671 sweet spreads

From least to most processed, this one ranks 204th. 68% of the sweet spreads 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 671 sweet spreads, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00816984, last edited 28 September 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.