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Is Kirkland Signature Caramel S'mores Clusters ultra-processed?

Candy chocolate bars Sold in the United States

Pack of Kirkland Signature Caramel S'mores Clusters

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:

  • 51 ingredients
  • 9 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed candy chocolate 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

milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, nonfat dry milk, milkfat, lactose, soy lecithin, vanillin, salt), caramel (invert sugar, sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, butter (cream, salt), brown sugar (sugar, invert sugar, cane molasses), coconut oil, glycerin, soy lecithin, salt, vanilla extract), grahams (wheat, sugar, corn meal, canola oil, molasses, fructose, salt, honey, baking soda, calcium carbonate, soy lecithin, dextrose, trisodium phosphate, rosemary extract (antioxidant), natural flavor), marshmallow (tapioca syrup, cane sugar, filtered water, tapioca starch, carrageenan, soy protein, natural vanilla flavor)

Additives: E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E339 Sodium phosphates , E339iii Trisodium phosphate , E392 Extracts of rosemary , E407 Carrageenan , E422 Glycerol , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, nonfat dry milk, milkfat, lactose, soy lecithin, vanillin, salt), caramel (invert sugar, sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, butter (cream, salt), brown sugar (sugar, invert sugar, cane molasses), coconut oil, glycerin, soy lecithin, salt, vanilla extract), grahams (whole grain wheat, sugar, corn meal, canola oil, molasses, fructose, salt, honey, baking soda, calcium carbonate, soy lecithin, dextrose, trisodium phosphate, rosemary extract [antioxidant], natural flavor), marshmallow (tapioca syrup, cane sugar, filtered water, tapioca starch, carrageenan, soy protein, natural vanilla flavor).

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.

  • 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.
  • E407 Carrageenan Carrageenan is a thickener and gelling agent extracted from red seaweed, used widely in dairy desserts, plant-based drinks and processed meats.
  • E422 Glycerol Glycerol is a sweet-tasting liquid used to keep products moist and soft.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.

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.
  • Invert sugar Invert sugar is ordinary sugar split into glucose and fructose with acid or enzymes.
  • Lactose Lactose is milk sugar, crystallised industrially from whey, a by-product of cheese making.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
9 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.

  • Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
  • Honey Honey, used as a sweetener.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Vegetable fat Vegetable fats are oils that are solid at room temperature, such as palm or coconut fat.
  • 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.
  • 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 201 candy chocolate bars

From least to most processed, this one ranks 182nd. 94% of the candy chocolate 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 201 candy chocolate bars, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0096619967247, last edited 30 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.
  • 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.