Is it ultra-processed?
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Calcium chloride (E509)

No. Calcium chloride (E509) is not one of the markers Open Food Facts uses to classify a food as processed or ultra-processed, so on its own it doesn't raise a product's NOVA group.

What it is

Calcium chloride keeps canned vegetables firm, and is used in cheese and tofu making.

A product that contains it can still be ultra-processed for other reasons: 275 of the 313 products here that contain calcium chloride (E509) (88%) are in group 4 because of other ingredients or additives.

Function

Stabiliser
Stabilisers are substances which make it possible to maintain the physico-chemical state of a foodstuff; stabilisers include substances which enable the maintenance of a homogenous dispersion of two or more immiscible substances in a foodstuff, substances which stabilise, retain or intensify an existing colour of a foodstuff and substances which increase the binding capacity of the food, including the formation of cross-links between proteins enabling the binding of food pieces into re-constituted food.
Thickener
Thickeners are substances which increase the viscosity of a foodstuff.
Coagulant

Functional class definitions from the EU food additives regulation, via Open Food Facts.

More about calcium chloride (E509) on Wikidata

Where it turns up

Calcium chloride (E509) appears in 313 of the 40,000 products on this site (1%).

Products containing calcium chloride (E509)

Showing the 60 most popular of 313.

How the NOVA classification works