Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Koia Cacao Bean Plant-Based Shake ultra-processed?

12 ounces Milk substitutes Sold in the United States

Pack of Koia Cacao Bean Plant-Based Shake

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:

  • 18 ingredients
  • 4 additives
  • Nutri-Score B

Less processed milk substitutes

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

Almond milk (water, almonds), koia proprietary blend (brown rice protein, pea protein, hemp protein), cocoa powder, evaporated cane sugar, monk fruit extract, sunflower lecithin, cocoa extract, vanilla extract, cinnamon, sea salt, locust bean gum, gellan gum, and natural flavors

Additives: E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E410 Locust bean gum , E418 Gellan gum

As written on the pack

Almond milk (water, almonds), koia proprietary blend (brown rice protein, pea protein, hemp protein), cocoa powder, evaporated cane sugar, monk fruit extract, sunflower lecithin, cocoa extract, vanilla extract, cinnamon, sea salt, locust bean gum, gellan gum, and natural flavors.

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.
  • E410 Locust bean gum Locust bean gum (carob gum) is a thickener and stabiliser from the seeds of the carob tree.
  • E418 Gellan gum Stabilisers are substances which make it possible to maintain the physico-chemical state of a foodstuff; stabilisers include substances which enable the maintenance of a homogenous dispersion of two or more immiscible substances in a foodstuff, substances which stabilise, retain or intensify an existing colour of a foodstuff and substances which increase the binding capacity of the food, including the formation of cross-links between proteins enabling the binding of food pieces into re-constituted food.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • Sweetener Sweeteners give sweetness with few or no calories, many at hundreds of times the strength of sugar.
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.

  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 737 milk substitutes

From least to most processed, this one ranks 685th. 73% of the milk substitutes 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 737 milk substitutes, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0854092006019, last edited 11 June 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 B (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.