Is it ultra-processed?
Menu

Is Maltesers chocolate egg ultra-processed?

127g Sweet snacks Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Maltesers chocolate egg

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
  • 7 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed sweet snacks

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

Sugar, skimmed milk powder, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, palm fat, milk fat, lactose, whey permeate (from milk), emulsifier (soya lecithin), vanilla extract, solids 14%, cocoa solids 14%, MALTESERS Milk chocolate 70%, with a honeycombed centre 23%, Ingredients (sugar), skimmed milk powder, cocoa butter, glucose syrup, barley malt extract, cocoa mass, palm fat, milk fat, lactose, whey permeate (from milk), emulsifiers (soya lecithin, e492), wheat flour, palm kernel fat, raising agents (e341, e500, e501), palm kernel oil, wheat gluten, whey powder (from milk), glazing agent (pectins), salt, vanilla extract, solids 14%

Additives: E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E341 Calcium phosphates , E440 Pectins , E492 Sorbitan tristearate , E500 Sodium carbonates , E501 Potassium carbonates

As written on the pack

Sugar, skimmed milk powder, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, palm fat, milk fat, lactose, whey permeate (from milk), emulsifier (soya lecithin), vanilla extract. (May contain: almonds, hazelnut). Milk chocolate contains milk solids 14% minimum and cocoa solids 25% minimum. MALTESERS Milk chocolate (70%) with a honeycombed centre (23%). Ingredients: sugar, skimmed milk powder, cocoa butter, glucose syrup, barley malt extract, cocoa mass, palm fat, milk fat, lactose, whey permeate (from milk), emulsifiers (soya lecithin, E492), wheat flour, palm kernel fat, raising agents (E341, E500, E501), palm kernel oil, wheat gluten, whey powder (from milk), glazing agent (pectins), salt, vanilla extract. Milk chocolate contains milk solids 14% minimum.

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.
  • E440 Pectins Pectins are gelling agents extracted from citrus peel or apple pomace.
  • 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.
  • Emulsifier Emulsifiers keep fat and water from separating, giving products a smooth, stable texture over a long shelf life.
  • Glazing agent Glazing agents, waxes and shellac for example, coat a surface to make it shiny or stop pieces sticking together.

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.
  • Glucose syrup Glucose syrup is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • Gluten Wheat gluten, sold as "vital wheat gluten", is the protein washed out of wheat flour.
  • Lactose Lactose is milk sugar, crystallised industrially from whey, a by-product of cheese making.
  • Whey Whey is the liquid left over from cheese making, usually dried into a powder and used as a cheap source of milk solids, protein and lactose.
4 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.
  • 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 5,433 sweet snacks

From least to most processed, this one ranks 4889th. 86% of the sweet snacks 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 5,433 sweet snacks, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5000159539142, 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 E (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.