Is Essence Strawberry Flavoured Water ultra-processed?

500ml Flavored waters Sold in the United Kingdom

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Flavouring
Sweetener
E950 Acesulfame k
E955 Sucralose

10 ingredients
5 additives
Nutri-Score C

Less processed flavored waters

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

Spring water, acid (citric acid), flavouring (ultra-processing marker), preservatives (processing marker) (potassium sorbate (processing marker), sodium benzoate), sweeteners (ultra-processing marker) (acesulfame K (ultra-processing marker), sucralose (ultra-processing marker))

Additives: E202 Potassium sorbate , E211 Sodium benzoate , E330 Citric acid , E950 Acesulfame k , E955 Sucralose

As written on the pack

Spring water, acid (citric acid), flavouring, preservatives (potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate), sweeteners (acesulfame K, sucralose)

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.

E950 Acesulfame k Acesulfame K is a synthetic sweetener about 200 times sweeter than sugar, often combined with aspartame or sucralose.
E955 Sucralose Sucralose is a sweetener made by chlorinating sugar.
Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
Sweetener Sweeteners give sweetness with few or no calories, many at hundreds of times the strength of sugar.

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.

E202 Potassium sorbate Preservatives are substances which prolong the shelf-life of foods by protecting them against deterioration caused by micro-organisms and/or which protect against growth of pathogenic micro-organisms.
Preservative Preservatives slow spoilage by microbes.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 119 flavored waters

From least to most processed, this one ranks 105th. 86% of the flavored waters 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 119 flavored waters, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5060121570313, last edited 11 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 C (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.