Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Border Dark Chocolate Raspberry ultra-processed?

150 g Dark chocolate biscuits Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Border Dark Chocolate Raspberry

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:

  • 50 ingredients
  • 9 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed dark 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

Plain Chocolate 35% (Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter, Milk Fat, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithin), Natural Flavouring), Wheat Flour (Calcium, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Sugar, Vegetable Oil (Palm Vegetable Oil, Rapeseed Vegetable Oil), Dark Chocolate Chips 5% (Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithin), Natural Flavouring), Raspberry 5% (Fruit (Apple Puree, Cherry Juice, Raspberry Puree), Sugar, Humectant (Glycerine), Wheat Fibre, Invert Sugar Syrup, Palm Kernel Fat, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Gelling Agent (Pectin), Rice Starch, Natural Flavouring, Citric Acid), Inverted Sugar Syrup, Cocoa Powder, Butter, Raising Agents (Sodium Bicarbonate, Ammonium Bicarbonate), Whole Egg Powder, Raspberry Flavouring, Salt

Additives: E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E330 Citric acid , E422 Glycerol , E440 Pectins , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate , E503 Ammonium carbonates , E503ii Ammonium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

Plain Chocolate (35%) (Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter, Milk Fat, Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin, Natural Flavouring), Wheat Flour (Calcium, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Sugar, Vegetable Oil (Palm, Rapeseed), Dark Chocolate Chips (5%) (Sugar, Cocoa Mass, Cocoa Butter, Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin, Natural Flavouring), Raspberry Pieces (5%) (Fruit (Apple Puree, Cherry Juice, Raspberry Puree), Sugar, Humectant: Glycerine, Wheat Fibre, Invert Sugar Syrup, Palm Kernel Fat, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Gelling Agent: Pectin, Rice Starch, Natural Flavouring, Citric Acid), Inverted Sugar Syrup, Cocoa Powder, Butter, Raising Agents (Sodium Bicarbonate, Ammonium Bicarbonate), Whole Egg Powder, Raspberry Flavouring, 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.
  • E422 Glycerol Glycerol is a sweet-tasting liquid used to keep products moist and soft.
  • E440 Pectins Pectins are gelling agents extracted from citrus peel or apple pomace.
  • Emulsifier Emulsifiers keep fat and water from separating, giving products a smooth, stable texture over a long shelf life.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • Gelling agent Gelling agents such as pectin, gelatine or carrageenan set liquids into gels and stabilise textures.
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  • Humectant Humectants are substances which prevent foods from drying out by counteracting the effect of an atmosphere having a low degree of humidity, or promote the dissolution of a powder in an aqueous medium.

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.

  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • Invert sugar Invert sugar is ordinary sugar split into glucose and fructose with acid or enzymes.
  • Vegetable fiber Isolated plant fibres, such as inulin, oat fibre or bamboo fibre, are extracted industrially and added to change texture or support "source of fibre" claims.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
7 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.

  • Chocolates Products in the category "Chocolates" are at least group 3.
  • Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.
  • Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 14 dark chocolate biscuits

From least to most processed, this one ranks 14th. 86% of the dark chocolate biscuits 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 14 dark chocolate biscuits, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0652655505814, last edited 6 April 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.