Is muesli ultra-processed?

Plain muesli of oats, dried fruit and nuts is not. Versions with added sugar are group 3, and versions with flavourings, sweeteners or added vitamins are group 4.

Is Weetabix ultra-processed?

Products of that kind are typically fortified with added vitamins and minerals, which is a group 4 marker under NOVA regardless of how short the rest of the list is. Check the packet you bought.

Are oats ultra-processed?

No. Plain oats, whether jumbo, rolled or quick, are group 1. Flavoured instant sachets are usually group 4.

Is breakfast cereal ultra-processed?

Plain oats are group 1. Most boxed cereal is group 4.

Plain porridge oats are group 1. Rolling and cutting an oat removes nothing and adds nothing, so oats sit in the same group as an apple.

Most boxed cereal is group 4. Flakes, puffs, shreds and clusters are extruded or reconstituted, and they generally carry added vitamins, flavourings, colourings, invert sugar syrups or malt extracts.

Fortification is a group 4 marker

This one catches people out. Added vitamins and minerals are a marker of ultra-processing under NOVA, because they are substances added to a formulation rather than something present in a food. A fortified cereal is group 4 by that test even where the rest of the list is short.

That is a good example of why the classification and a nutrition judgement are genuinely different things and why this site keeps them apart. Fortification exists for public health reasons. NOVA is silent on whether it is a good idea, and so is Bagged.

The dividing line

Oats, or plain shredded wheat with one ingredient: group 1.
Muesli of oats, dried fruit and nuts with nothing added: group 1 or 3 depending on added sugar.
Anything extruded, puffed, frosted, clustered or fortified: group 4.
Granola depends entirely on whether the syrup and oil are the only additions.

Working this out from a receipt is harder than from a packet, because a till prints about twenty characters of product name and no ingredients list. That is the problem Bagged exists to solve, and how a receipt is structured explains why it is the hard part.

Common questions

Is muesli ultra-processed?: Plain muesli of oats, dried fruit and nuts is not. Versions with added sugar are group 3, and versions with flavourings, sweeteners or added vitamins are group 4.
Is Weetabix ultra-processed?: Products of that kind are typically fortified with added vitamins and minerals, which is a group 4 marker under NOVA regardless of how short the rest of the list is. Check the packet you bought.
Are oats ultra-processed?: No. Plain oats, whether jumbo, rolled or quick, are group 1. Flavoured instant sachets are usually group 4.

One photo of a receipt answers this for your own shopping.

Bagged reads every line and reports what share of your food spend was ultra-processed, and which items it was.

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