Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Marks & Spencer Golden blond chocolate spread ultra-processed?

Spreads Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Marks & Spencer Golden blond chocolate spread

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:

  • 29 ingredients
  • 3 additives

Less processed spreads

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

Rapeseed Oil, Sugar, Skimmed Milk, Caramel 10% (Whey, Butter, Maltodextrin, Sugar, Skimmed Milk, Flavouring), Cocoa Butter, Whey, Wafer 4% (Potato Starch, Sugar, Chickpea Flour, Maize Flour, Coconut Fat, Sunflower Lecithin, Salt, Flavouring), Dried Whole Milk, Lactose, Milk Fat, Soya Lecithin, Flavouring, Bourbon Vanilla Extract, Antioxidant, Tocopherol-Rich Extract

Additives: E306 Tocopherol-rich extract , E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin

As written on the pack

Rapeseed Oil, Sugar, Dried Skimmed Milk, Caramel Powder (10%) (Whey (Milk), Butter (Milk), Maltodextrin, Sugar, Skimmed Milk, Flavouring), Cocoa Butter, Dried Whey (Milk), Wafer Pieces (4%) (Potato Starch, Sugar, Chickpea Flour, Maize Flour, Coconut Fat, Emulsifier: Sunflower Lecithin; Salt, Flavouring), Dried Whole Milk, Lactose (Milk), Milk Fat, Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin; Flavouring, Bourbon Vanilla Extract. Antioxidant. Tocopherol-Rich Extract.

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.
  • 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.

  • Lactose Lactose is milk sugar, crystallised industrially from whey, a by-product of cheese making.
  • Maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a white powder made by partly breaking down starch.
  • 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.
6 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 2,113 spreads

From least to most processed, this one ranks 2007th. 47% of the spreads 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 2,113 spreads, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 29173587, last edited 8 August 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.
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.