Is Lipton Half & Half Iced Tea Lemonade ultra-processed?
Yes, it's ultra-processed
- 1 Unprocessed
- 2 Kitchen staple
- 3 Processed
- 4 Ultra-processed
Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:
- 15 ingredients
- 8 additives
- Nutri-Score D
Ingredients
Ultra-processing Processing
water, high fructose corn syrup (ultra-processing marker), citric acid, clarified lemon j concentrate, sodium polyphosphates (ultra-processing marker) (to protest flavor), black natural flavor, phosphoric acid, potassium sorbate (processing marker) (preserves freshness), acesulfame potassium (ultra-processing marker), gum arabic (ultra-processing marker), glycerol ester of rosin, calcium disodium edta (to protect flavor (processing marker))
Additives: E202 Potassium sorbate , E330 Citric acid , E338 Phosphoric acid , E385 Calcium disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate , E414 Acacia gum , E452 Polyphosphates , E452i Sodium polyphosphate , E950 Acesulfame k
As written on the pack
WATER, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CITRIC ACID, CLARIFIED LEMON J CONCENTRATE, SODIUM POLYPHOSPHATES (TO PROTEST FLAVOR), BLACK NATURAL FLAVOR, PHOSPHORIC ACID, POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVES FRESHNESS), ACESULFAME POTASSIUM, GUM ARABIC, GLYCEROL ESTER OF ROSIN, CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA (TO PROTECT 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.
- E414 Acacia gum Gum arabic (acacia gum) is the hardened sap of acacia trees, used to stabilise flavour emulsions in soft drinks and to coat sweets.
- E452 Polyphosphates 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.
- E950 Acesulfame k Acesulfame K is a synthetic sweetener about 200 times sweeter than sugar, often combined with aspartame or sucralose.
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.
- Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
- High fructose corn syrup High-fructose corn syrup is made from corn starch: enzymes break it down to glucose and convert part of that into fructose, giving a syrup about as sweet as table sugar.
- Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
2 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.
- E202 Potassium sorbate Preservatives are substances which prolong the shelf-life of foods by protecting them against deterioration caused by micro-organisms and/or which protect against growth of pathogenic micro-organisms.
- Preservative Preservatives slow spoilage by microbes.
About this information
- Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0012000387869, last edited 3 October 2025), 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.