Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Ghirardelli Triple fudge brownie mix ultra-processed?

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Pack of Ghirardelli Triple fudge brownie mix

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:

  • 41 ingredients
  • 6 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

Brownie mix ingredients (sugar), flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, malted barley flour, enzymes), semi-sweet chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, soy lecithin (emulsifier), vanilla extract), cocoa, soybean oil, less than 2% of (salt), artificial flavor, baking soda, fudge pouch ingredients (sugar), water, cocoa, corn syrup, lactose (derivatives), high maltose corn syrup, soybean oil, chocolate, food starch-modified, salt, artificial flavor, preservatives (potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate)

Additives: E202 Potassium sorbate , E211 Sodium benzoate , E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

Brownie mix ingredients: sugar, enriched bleached flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, malted barley flour, enzymes), semi-sweet chocolate chips (sugar, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, soy lecithin [emulsifier], vanilla extract), cocoa (processed with alkali), soybean oil, less than 2% of: salt, artificial flavor, baking soda. fudge pouch ingredients: sugar, water, cocoa (processed with alkali), corn syrup, lactose (contains milk derivatives), high maltose corn syrup, soybean oil, unsweetened chocolate, food starch-modified, salt, artificial flavor, preservatives (potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate).

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.
  • 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.
  • Modified starch Modified starch is starch altered physically, with enzymes or chemically, so that it thickens, gels or survives freezing and heating better than ordinary starch.

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.

  • Lactose Lactose is milk sugar, crystallised industrially from whey, a by-product of cheese making.
  • Cocoa An ingredient mostly produced industrially and rarely used in home kitchens.
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.

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0041449302706, last edited 20 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.