Is Healthy Co Protinella Salted caramel flavored spread ultra-processed?
Yes, it's ultra-processed
- 1 Unprocessed
- 2 Kitchen staple
- 3 Processed
- 4 Ultra-processed
Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:
- 17 ingredients
- 4 additives
Ingredients
Ultra-processing Processing
Sweetener (ultra-processing marker) (maltitol (ultra-processing marker)), vegetable oils and fats (rapeseed, cocoa, sunflower), powder, concentrated butter, colouring (ultra-processing marker) (paprika extract (ultra-processing marker)), emulsifier (ultra-processing marker) (lecithin (ultra-processing marker)), salt (processing marker), whey protein (ultra-processing marker), skimmed milk powder (processing marker), fat-reduced cocoa natural flavour, Contains naturally occurring sugars
Additives: E160c Paprika extract , E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E965 Maltitol
As written on the pack
Sweetener: maltitol, vegetable oils and fats (rapeseed, cocoa, sunflower), powder, concentrated butter (milk), colouring: paprika extract, emulsifier: lecithin, salt, whey protein concentrate (milk) (16%), skimmed milk powder, fat-reduced cocoa natural flavour. With no added sugars. *Contains naturally occurring sugars.
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.
- E160c Paprika extract Paprika extract is a red-orange colour extracted from paprika peppers.
- 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.
- E965 Maltitol Maltitol is a sugar alcohol made from starch, used as a sweetener in "no added sugar" sweets and chocolate.
- Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
- Emulsifier Emulsifiers keep fat and water from separating, giving products a smooth, stable texture over a long shelf life.
- 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.
- Milk proteins Milk proteins are proteins separated from milk, such as caseinates and whey protein concentrates, added to adjust texture or raise protein content.
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.
- Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
- Milk powder Milk powder is milk with the water evaporated off: a preserved form of a whole food rather than an industrial extract.
About this information
- Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 7350021425621, last edited 2 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.
- General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.