Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Lidl Milk Chocolate Popcorn Bar ultra-processed?

4 x 21 g Cereal bars Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Lidl Milk Chocolate Popcorn Bar

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:

  • 46 ingredients
  • 4 additives
  • Nutri-Score D

Less processed cereal 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

Fructooligosaccharides, Milk Chocolate 20% (Milk Chocolate 16% (Sugar, Cocoa Butter", Whole Milk Powder, Cocoa Mass", Emulsifier (Soya Lecithins), Natural Vanilla Flavouring), Milk Chocolate Chips 4% (Sugar, Whole Milk Powder, Cocoa Butter", Cocoa Mass", Lactose, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithins), Natural Flavouring)), Crispy Cereals (Wheat Flour, Rice Flour, Dextrose, Sugar, Salt), Oat Flakes, Popcorn 9.5% (Maize, Sunflower Oil), Pretzels 7% (Wheat Flour, Sunflower Oil, Salt, Malted Wheat Flour, Yeast, Acidity Regulator (Sodium Hydroxide)), Stabiliser (Sorbitols), Glucose Syrup, Sunflower Oil, Salt, Emulsifier (Soya Lecithins), Antioxidant (Tocopherol-Rich Extract)

Additives: E306 Tocopherol-rich extract , E322 Lecithins , E420 Sorbitol , E524 Sodium hydroxide

As written on the pack

Fructooligosaccharides, 20% Milk Chocolate (16% Milk Chocolate [Sugar, Cocoa Butter", Whole Milk Powder, Cocoa Mass", Emulsifier: Soya Lecithins; Natural Vanilla Flavouring], 4% Milk Chocolate Chips [Sugar, Whole Milk Powder, Cocoa Butter", Cocoa Mass", Lactose (Milk), Emulsifier: Soya Lecithins; Natural Flavouring]), Crispy Cereals (Wheat Flour, Rice Flour, Dextrose, Sugar, Salt), Oat Flakes, 9.5% Popcorn (Maize, Sunflower Oil), 7% Pretzels (Wheat Flour, Sunflower Oil, Salt, Malted Wheat Flour, Yeast, Acidity Regulator: Sodium Hydroxide), Stabiliser: Sorbitols; Glucose Syrup, Sunflower Oil, Salt, Emulsifier: Soya Lecithins; Antioxidant: Tocopherol-Rich Extract. May also contain Nuts, Peanuts and other Cereals containing Gluten.

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.
  • E420 Sorbitol Sorbitol is a sugar alcohol used as a sweetener and to keep products moist.
  • Emulsifier Emulsifiers keep fat and water from separating, giving products a smooth, stable texture over a long shelf life.
  • 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.

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.
  • Glucose syrup Glucose syrup is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • Lactose Lactose is milk sugar, crystallised industrially from whey, a by-product of cheese making.
5 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.

  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • 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.
  • 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 488 cereal bars

From least to most processed, this one ranks 409th. 91% of the cereal 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 488 cereal bars, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 4056489746591, 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 D (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.