Is Cheese Ultra-Processed?

Why Cheese scores It depends

Plain cheddar cheese is one of the oldest processed foods in the world, but 'processed' in the traditional sense — not ultra-processed. Every block cheddar we checked at Tesco (Cathedral City, Tesco own-brand, Creamfields, Pilgrims Choice) contains the same core ingredients: milk, salt, rennet, and starter culture. These are classic NOVA 2 ingredients — real food transformed by traditional techniques like salting, pressing, and ageing.

Brie follows the same pattern. President French Brie lists pasteurised milk, salt, Penicillium candidum (the mould that forms the white rind), and rennet. Again, NOVA 2.

The picture changes with processed cheese products. Cheestrings list acidity regulators (citric acid, lactic acid), paprika for colour, and added vitamins (D, B6, B12). The acidity regulators and vitamin fortification push it to NOVA 3 — processed food with additives designed to extend shelf life and enhance the product beyond what traditional cheese-making achieves.

Wensleydale with Cranberries goes further. The cranberry filling contains sugar, sunflower oil, and fructose, while the cheese itself includes potassium sorbate as a preservative. Fructose as a standalone sweetener and potassium sorbate are both NOVA 4 markers, making this an ultra-processed product despite its artisan appearance.

Products like Dairylea, Philadelphia, and Babybel were not in our sample but would typically score NOVA 3-4 due to emulsifiers, stabilisers, and other additives common in processed cheese.