Is Aldi Milk Chocolate Digestives ultra-processed?

300g Digestives covered with chocolate Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Aldi Milk Chocolate Digestives

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:

  • 25 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed chocolate biscuits

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

wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin), milk chocolate 30% (sugar (processing marker), cocoa mass, cocoa butter (processing marker), skimmed milk powder (processing marker), vegetable oils and fats (palm oil, sal fat (processing marker), shea fat (processing marker)), whey powder (ultra-processing marker), milk fat, lecithins (ultra-processing marker)), palm oil, sugar (processing marker), wheat flour, partially inverted sugar syrup (ultra-processing marker), sodium carbonates, ammonium carbonates, salt (processing marker)

Additives: E322 Lecithins , E500 Sodium carbonates , E503 Ammonium carbonates

As written on the pack

wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin), milk chocolate (30%) [sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, skimmed milk powder, vegetable oils and fats (palm oil, sal fat, shea fat), whey powder (milk), milk fat, emulsifier: lecithins (soya)], palm oil, sugar, wholemeal wheat flour, partially inverted sugar syrup, raising agents: sodium carbonates, ammonium carbonates, salt

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.

  • E322 Lecithins Lecithins are fatty substances extracted mostly from soybeans, sunflower seeds or eggs, used as emulsifiers to keep fat and water mixed, for example in chocolate.

Substances rarely used in home kitchens

Refined or extracted in factories, such as syrups made from starch or isolated proteins. The other hallmark of ultra-processed food.

  • Invert sugar Invert sugar is ordinary sugar split into glucose and fructose with acid or enzymes.
  • Whey Whey is the liquid left over from cheese making, usually dried into a powder and used as a cheap source of milk solids, protein and lactose.
5 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.

  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Vegetable fat Vegetable fats are oils that are solid at room temperature, such as palm or coconut fat.
  • Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.
  • Milk powder Milk powder is milk with the water evaporated off: a preserved form of a whole food rather than an industrial extract.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 21 digestives covered with chocolate

From least to most processed, this one ranks 2nd. 100% of the digestives covered with chocolate 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 21 digestives covered with chocolate, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 4088600148588, last edited 15 September 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 E (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.