Is it ultra-processed?
Menu

Is Halo Top Peanut butter cup ice cream ultra-processed?

Ice creams Sold in the United Kingdom

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:

  • 27 ingredients
  • 6 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed ice creams

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

Skimmed Milk, Poly, dextrose (Dietary Fibre), Sugar, Cream, Sweetener (Erythritol), Eggs, Skimmed Milk Powder, Peanut Butter Sauce 3.3% (Roasted Peanuts, Sugar, Peanut Oil, Salt), Emulsifier (mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids), Salt, Natural Peanut Flavouring, Colour (Plain Caramel), Stabilisers (Locust Bean Gum), Guar Gum, Fat-Reduced Cocoa Powder, Sweetener (Steviol Glycosides from Stevia)

Additives: E150a Plain caramel , E410 Locust bean gum , E412 Guar gum , E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids , E960a Steviol glycosides from Stevia , E968 Erythritol

As written on the pack

Reconstituted Skimmed Milk, Poly - dextrose (Dietary Fibre), Sugar, Cream (Milk), Sweetener: Erythritol; Eggs, Skimmed Milk Powder, Peanut Butter Sauce (3.3 %) (Roasted Peanuts, Sugar, Peanut Oil, Salt), Emulsifier: Mono - and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids; Salt, Natural Peanut Flavouring, Colour: Plain Caramel; Stabilisers: Locust Bean Gum, Guar Gum; Fat-Reduced Cocoa Powder, Sweetener: Steviol Glycosides from Stevia.

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.

  • E150a Plain caramel Plain caramel is a brown colour made by heating sugars.
  • E410 Locust bean gum Locust bean gum (carob gum) is a thickener and stabiliser from the seeds of the carob tree.
  • E412 Guar gum Guar gum is a thickener ground from the seeds of the guar plant.
  • E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids are made from fats and glycerol.
  • E968 Erythritol 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.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
Show 3 more
  • 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.
  • Sweetener Sweeteners give sweetness with few or no calories, many at hundreds of times the strength of sugar.

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.

  • Dextrose Dextrose is pure glucose crystallised from starch-derived syrup.
  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
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.

  • Ice creams Products in the category "Ice creams" are at least group 3.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • 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

Among 321 ice creams

From least to most processed, this one ranks 259th. 93% of the ice creams 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 321 ice creams, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5056285800182, last edited 27 March 2026), available under the Open Database License. If something is wrong or the recipe has changed, you can correct it there.
  • 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.