Is Activia vanilla ultra-processed?

650 g Bifidus yogurts Sold in Canada and France

Pack of Activia vanilla

Yes, it's ultra-processed

  1. 1 Unprocessed
  2. 2 Kitchen staple
  3. 3 Processed
  4. 4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

  • 20 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed bifidus yogurts

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

skim milk, ultrafiltered milk, cream, sugars (processing marker) (sugar, caramel, fruit juice (for colour (ultra-processing marker))), water, modified corn starch (ultra-processing marker), gelatin (ultra-processing marker), natural flavour (ultra-processing marker), active probiotic culture (bifidobacterium lactis cncm 1-2494), active bacterial cultures, vitamin d3, annatto (ultra-processing marker) (for colour (ultra-processing marker)), malic acid, made with vitamin d fortified skim milk

Additives: E160b Annatto , E296 Malic acid , E428 Gelatine

As written on the pack

skim milk, ultrafiltered milk, cream, sugars [sugar, caramel and fruit juice (for colour)], water, modified corn starch, gelatin, natural flavour, active probiotic culture (bifidobacterium lactis cncm 1-2494) and active bacterial cultures, vitamin d3, annatto (for colour), malic acid, made with vitamin d fortified skim milk,

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.
  • E428 Gelatine Gelatine is a gelling agent made from collagen in animal skin and bones.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • Modified starch Modified starch is starch altered physically, with enzymes or chemically, so that it thickens, gels or survives freezing and heating better than ordinary starch.
2 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.

  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 32 bifidus yogurts

From least to most processed, this one ranks 20th. 88% of the bifidus yogurts 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 32 bifidus yogurts, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0056800098297, last edited 21 May 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 C (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.