Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Waitrose Rich Fruit Cake ultra-processed?

500 g Cakes Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Waitrose Rich Fruit Cake

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:

  • 27 ingredients
  • 5 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed cakes

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

Sultanas 47%, wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin), butter, free range egg, sugar, glacé cherries 5% (cherries, glucose-fructose syrup, fruit and vegetable concentrates (carrot, aronia), citric acid), glucose syrup, vegetable glycerol, currants, barley malt extract, molasses, salt, cinnamon, calcium phosphates, potassium carbonate, rapeseed oil

Additives: E330 Citric acid , E341 Calcium phosphates , E422 Glycerol , E501 Potassium carbonates , E501i Potassium carbonate

Also detected, but not matched to one ingredient: E422 Glycerol.

As written on the pack

Sultanas (47%), wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin), butter (milk), pasteurised free range egg, sugar, glacé cherries (5%) (cherries, glucose-fructose syrup, fruit and vegetable concentrates (carrot, aronia), acidity regulator (citric acid)), glucose syrup, humectant (vegetable glycerol), currants, barley malt extract, molasses, salt, ground cinnamon, raising agents (calcium phosphates, potassium carbonate), rapeseed oil.

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.

  • E422 Glycerol Glycerol is a sweet-tasting liquid used to keep products moist and soft.

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.
  • Glucose syrup Glucose syrup is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
4 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.

  • Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 377 cakes

From least to most processed, this one ranks 132nd. 94% of the cakes 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 377 cakes, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5000169061701, last edited 4 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.