Is it ultra-processed?
Menu

Is Kellogg's Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Meal Bars ultra-processed?

45 g Bars Sold in the United States and France

Pack of Kellogg's Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Meal Bars

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:

  • 15 ingredients
  • 1 additive

Less processed bars

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

Soy protein isolate, sugar, soluble corn fiber, vegetable oil (palm vegetable oil, palm kernel vegetable oil), oil with sorbitan tristearate, soybean, palm oil with tbhq for freshness, peanut butter, fructose, inulin, corn syrup, dextrose, cocoa processed with alkali

Additives: E492 Sorbitan tristearate

Also detected, but not matched to one ingredient: E492 Sorbitan tristearate.

As written on the pack

Soy protein isolate, sugar, soluble corn fiber, vegetable oil (palm and palm kernel oil with sorbitan tristearate, soybean and palm oil with tbhq for freshness), peanut butter (peanuts), fructose, inulin, corn syrup, dextrose, cocoa processed with alkali

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.

  • E492 Sorbitan tristearate Emulsifiers are substances which make it possible to form or maintain a homogenous mixture of two or more immiscible phases such as oil and water in a foodstuff.

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.
  • Vegetable fiber Isolated plant fibres, such as inulin, oat fibre or bamboo fibre, are extracted industrially and added to change texture or support "source of fibre" claims.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
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.

  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.
  • Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 1,328 bars

From least to most processed, this one ranks 786th. 89% of the bars 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 1,328 bars, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 03801002, last edited 29 September 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.