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Is Darigold Fit Lactose Free Ultra-Filtered Reduced Fat Chocolate Milk ultra-processed?

8 FL OZ (236mL) Dairy drinks Sold in the United States

Pack of Darigold Fit Lactose Free Ultra-Filtered Reduced Fat Chocolate 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
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed dairy drinks

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

ultrafiltered skim milk, milk, liquid sugar (sugar, waier), fructose, cocoa processed with alkali, natural flavors, sali, gellan gum, lactase enlyme, vitamin a palmitate, vitamin d3

Additives: E418 Gellan gum

As written on the pack

ULTRAFILTERED SKIM MILK, MILK, LIQUID SUGAR (SUGAR, WAIER), FRUCTOSE, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, NATURAL FLAVORS, SALI, GELLAN GUM, LACTASE ENLYME, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, VITAMIN D3

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.

  • E418 Gellan gum 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.
  • 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.

  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
1 ingredient 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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 405 dairy drinks

From least to most processed, this one ranks 216th. 80% of the dairy drinks 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 405 dairy drinks, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0026400900535, last edited 30 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.