Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Asda Chocolate Flavoured Milk ultra-processed?

1 l Chocolate milks Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Asda Chocolate Flavoured Milk

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:

  • 13 ingredients
  • 2 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed chocolate milks

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

Low fat milk 94%, sugar, skimmed milk powder, fat-reduced cocoa powder, dark chocolate (cocoa powder, cocoa mass, sugar), flavourings, dextrose, stabilisers (carrageenan, xanthan gum)

Additives: E407 Carrageenan , E415 Xanthan gum

As written on the pack

Low fat milk 94%, sugar, skimmed milk powder, fat-reduced cocoa powder, dark chocolate powder (cocoa powder, cocoa mass, sugar), flavourings, dextrose, stabilisers (carrageenan, xanthan gum).

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.

  • E407 Carrageenan Carrageenan is a thickener and gelling agent extracted from red seaweed, used widely in dairy desserts, plant-based drinks and processed meats.
  • E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.

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.

  • Dextrose Dextrose is pure glucose crystallised from starch-derived syrup.
  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
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.

  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • 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 68 chocolate milks

From least to most processed, this one ranks 47th. 96% of the chocolate milks 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 68 chocolate milks, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 27533888, last edited 27 March 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.