Is Trader Joe's CheeseSticks cheddar ultra-processed?

4 oz Appetizers 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
Sugar
Cheese

16 ingredients
1 additive
Nutri-Score E

Less processed appetizers

Veggie Straws Made With Avocado Oil From the Ground Up 11 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 2
Extra virgin olive oil breadstick 7 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 2
Regular Potato Chips Ruffles 3 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 2

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, Malted Barley Flour), Cheddar (processing marker), Asiago Cheeses (processing marker) (Milk, Salt (processing marker), Cheese Cultures, Enzymes), Unsalted Butter (processing marker), Yeast, Sugar (processing marker), Salt (processing marker), Cayenne Pepper, Rosemary Extract (To Preserve Freshness)

Additives: E392 Extracts of rosemary

As written on the pack

Unbleached Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour), Cheddar & Asiago Cheeses (Milk, Salt, Cheese Cultures, Enzymes), Unsalted Butter (Milk), Yeast, Sugar, Salt, Cayenne Pepper, Rosemary Extract (To Preserve Freshness). Contains Wheat and Milk. May Contain Sesame.

What makes it processed

Processed ingredients

Processed foods in their own right, such as cheese or milk powder.

Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

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.
Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

Category rules

Open Food Facts puts every product in this category in at least this group.

Salty snacks Products in the category "Salty snacks" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 2,498 appetizers

From least to most processed, this one ranks 759th. 64% of the appetizers 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 2,498 appetizers, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00736725, last edited 27 September 2025), 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.