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Is Ghirardelli Squares Milk Chocolate Caramel ultra-processed?

Chocolate candies Sold in the United States

Pack of Ghirardelli Squares Milk Chocolate Caramel

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:

  • 22 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed chocolate candies

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

Sugar, whole milk powder, corn syrup, cocoa butter, sweetened condensed milk (milk, sugar), chocolate, palm oil, butter (cream, salt), sodium citrate, soy lecithin, natural flavor, oregano, flaxseed, plum, and green tea (to preserve freshness), salt, vanilla extract

Additives: E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E331 Sodium citrates

As written on the pack

Sugar, whole milk powder, corn syrup, cocoa butter, sweetened condensed milk (milk, sugar), unsweetened chocolate, palm oil, butter (cream, salt), sodium citrate, soy lecithin, natural flavor, extracts of oregano, flaxseed, plum, and green tea (to preserve freshness), salt, vanilla extract.

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.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
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.

  • Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • 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 776 chocolate candies

From least to most processed, this one ranks 235th. 91% of the chocolate candies 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 776 chocolate candies, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0747599306518, last edited 28 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 E (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.