Is Horlicks Malted drink ultra-processed?
Yes, it's ultra-processed
- 1 Unprocessed
- 2 Kitchen staple
- 3 Processed
- 4 Ultra-processed
Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:
- 26 ingredients
- 1 additive
- Nutri-Score E
Ingredients
Ultra-processing Processing
wheat 41% (wheat flour, wheat), malted barley 31%, whey (ultra-processing marker), calcium carbonate, skimmed milk, sugar (processing marker), palm oil, salt (processing marker), anti-caking agent (processing marker) (e551 (ultra-processing marker)), vitamin mix, vitamins, vitamin C, Niacin, Vitamin E, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin B6, Riboflavin, Thiamin Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, ferric pyrophosphate, zinc oxide
Additives: E551 Silicon dioxide
As written on the pack
wheat 41% (wheat flour and malted wheat), malted barley 31%, dried whey, calcium carbonate, dried skimmed milk, sugar, palm oil, salt, anti-caking agent (E551), vitamin mix (Vitamin C, Niacin, Vitamin E, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin B6, Riboflavin, Thiamin Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12), ferric pyrophosphate, zinc oxide
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.
- E551 Silicon dioxide A food additive used to dissolve, dilute, disperse or otherwise physically modify a food additive or nutrient without altering its function -and without exerting any technological effect itself- in order to facilitate its handling, application or use of the food additive or nutrient.
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.
- Whey Whey is the liquid left over from cheese making, usually dried into a powder and used as a cheap source of milk solids, protein and lactose.
3 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.
- Anti-caking agent Anti-caking agents are substances which reduce the tendency of individual particles of a foodstuff to adhere to one another.
- Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
- Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
About this information
- Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5060113919502, 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.
- 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.