Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Hershey's Strawberry syrup ultra-processed?

623 g Flavoured syrups Sold in Australia

Pack of Hershey's Strawberry syrup

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:

  • 13 ingredients
  • 4 additives

Less processed flavoured syrups

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

high fructose corn syrup, water, corn syrup, flavour, acidity regulator (330), preservative (211), thickener (415), colour (129), ave ener ingr arti

Additives: E129 Allura red , E211 Sodium benzoate , E330 Citric acid , E415 Xanthan gum

Also detected, but not matched to one ingredient: E129 Allura red, E415 Xanthan gum.

As written on the pack

high fructose corn syrup, water, corn syrup, flavour, acidity regulator (330), preservative (211), thickener (415), colour (129). ave ener ingr arti

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.

  • E129 Allura red Allura red AC is a synthetic red azo dye (FD&C Red No. 40 in the US).
  • E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • Thickener Thickeners, often gums or modified starches, make liquids more viscous so that a product feels richer than its ingredients alone would make it.

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.

  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • High fructose corn syrup High-fructose corn syrup is made from corn starch: enzymes break it down to glucose and convert part of that into fructose, giving a syrup about as sweet as table sugar.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
1 ingredient that would only make it processed

Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 46 flavoured syrups

From least to most processed, this one ranks 44th. 67% of the flavoured syrups 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 46 flavoured syrups, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0034000003181, last edited 13 December 2025), 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.