Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter Spread ultra-processed?

Spreads Sold in the United States

Pack of Trader Joe's Speculoos Cookie Butter Spread

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:

  • 16 ingredients
  • 5 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed spreads

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, malted wheat flour, sugar, palm oil, canola oil, citric acid, lemon juice concentrate, cane sugar, soy flour, invert sugar syrup, wheat gluten, sodium bicarbonate, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, canola lecithin

Additives: E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E330 Citric acid , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate

Also detected, but not matched to one ingredient: E322 Lecithins.

As written on the pack

wheat flour, malted wheat flour, caramelized sugar, palm oil, canola oil, citric acid, lemon juice concentrate, cane sugar, soy flour, invert sugar syrup, wheat gluten, sodium bicarbonate, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, canola lecithin

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.

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.

  • Gluten Wheat gluten, sold as "vital wheat gluten", is the protein washed out of wheat flour.
  • Invert sugar Invert sugar is ordinary sugar split into glucose and fructose with acid or enzymes.
1 ingredient that would only make it processed

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

  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 2,112 spreads

From least to most processed, this one ranks 1860th. 47% of the 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 2,112 spreads, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00967617, last edited 3 July 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.