Is Walkers french fries Cheese & Onion ultra-processed?

18 g Puffed salty snacks made from potato Sold in the United Kingdom

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Colour
Dextrose
Flavour enhancer
Flavouring
Glucose
Lactose
and 3 more

20 ingredients
4 additives
Nutri-Score D

Less processed puffed salty snacks made from potato

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

potato, potato starch (processing marker), sunflower oil (processing marker), cheese (processing marker), onion flavour (ultra-processing marker), lactose (ultra-processing marker) (from milk), dried onion, flavour enhancer (ultra-processing marker) (monosodium glutamate (ultra-processing marker)), dextrose (ultra-processing marker), sugar (processing marker), flavouring (ultra-processing marker), cheese (processing marker) (from milk), colour (ultra-processing marker) (paprika extract (ultra-processing marker)), salt (processing marker), colour (ultra-processing marker) (annatto norbixin (ultra-processing marker))

Additives: E160b Annatto , E160bii Annatto norbixin , E160c Paprika extract , E621 Monosodium glutamate

As written on the pack

potato granules, potato starch, sunflower oil, cheese ,onion flavour [lactose (from milk), dried onion, flavour enhancer (monosodium glutamate), dextrose, sugar, flavouring, dried cheese (from milk), colour (paprika extract), salt, colour (annatto norbixin),

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.

E160b Annatto Colours are substances which add or restore colour in a food, and include natural constituents of foods and natural sources which are normally not consumed as foods as such and not normally used as characteristic ingredients of food.
E160c Paprika extract Paprika extract is a red-orange colour extracted from paprika peppers.
E621 Monosodium glutamate Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, made by fermentation and used to strengthen savoury taste.
Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
Flavour enhancer Flavour enhancers such as monosodium glutamate (E621) strengthen savoury taste without adding a flavour of their own.
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.

Dextrose Dextrose is pure glucose crystallised from starch-derived syrup.
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.

6 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.

Salty snacks Products in the category "Salty snacks" are at least group 3.
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.
Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.
Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 28 puffed salty snacks made from potato

From least to most processed, this one ranks 28th. 86% of the puffed salty snacks made from potato 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 28 puffed salty snacks made from potato, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 51000638, last edited 22 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 D (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.