Cheese is the example the NOVA literature reaches for when explaining the difference between processed and ultra-processed food, and it is a good one. A block of cheddar and a plastic-wrapped slice look like versions of the same product. They are not.
The list below is real block, soft and cottage cheeses with no additives, pulled from Open Food Facts and checked against the live Cull database. The scores are low, and that is the second half of the story.
UK cheeses with no additives
| Product | NOVA | Cull score |
|---|---|---|
| Lidl Milbona — Natural Cottage CheeseCottage cheese and salt | 3 | 58/100 |
| Cathedral City — Mature Cheddar | 3 | 28/100 |
| Cathedral City — Extra Mature Cheddar | 3 | 28/100 |
| Babybel — Mini OriginalMilk, salt, lactic ferments, vegetarian rennet | 3 | 28/100 |
| Tesco — Full Fat Soft Cheese | 3 | 28/100 |
| Sainsbury's — Full Fat Soft Cheese | 3 | 28/100 |
Checked 31 July 2026against Open Food Facts and the live Cull database. Recipes change without notice and supermarket own-brands are reformulated regularly — scan the pack in front of you rather than trusting any list, including this one. Scores are Cull's own standard, not an official rating.
Block is group 3, slice is group 4
Making cheddar is milk, cultures, rennet and salt, then time. Under NOVAthat is group 3 — processed food, alongside tinned fish and cured meat. It is one of the oldest preservation techniques there is.
Processed cheese slices are a different product. Cheese will not melt evenly or stay pliable in a wrapper without separating, so emulsifying salts — typically phosphates or citrates — are used to hold the fat and protein together. That is formulation, not preservation, and it is what puts slices and squeezy cheese in group 4.
The practical version of this: in the cheese aisle, the block is almost always the less processed option, and you can tell without an app. If the pack says “cheese” the list is short. If it says “cheese food”, “singles” or “slices”, turn it over.
A clean label and a score of 28
Nearly everything in the table scores 28. Nothing is wrong with the scoring — cheddar is roughly a third fat and carries a meaningful amount of salt, and a nutrition score is supposed to say so.
Cottage cheese is the outlier at 58, and it is instructive. Same additive status, same NOVA group, far less fat and salt for the same protein. If the classification were doing the work people expect it to do, those two products would not be 30 points apart.
That is the honest summary of this whole roundup series: NOVA tells you how a food was made, not whether it suits your diet. A scanner that reports only one of those is leaving out half the answer, which is why Cull reports nutrition, additive risk and processing separately. Our additives guide covers which ingredient classes signal ultra-processing.