Is it ultra-processed?
Menu

Is Marks & Spencers Rocky Road Mini Bites ultra-processed?

225 g e Chocolate candies Sold in the United Kingdom and France

Pack of Marks & Spencers Rocky Road Mini Bites

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:

  • 49 ingredients
  • 8 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed chocolate candies

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

Milk Chocolate 50% (Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Skimmed Milk, Milk Fat, Lactose, Soya Lecithin), Sultanas 18%, Sugar, Glacé Cherries (Cherries, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Fruit and Vegetable Concentrates (Black Carrot, Aronia), Citric Acid), Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Oats, Crisped Rice (Rice, Sugar, Salt, Barley Malt Extract, Iron, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Riboflavins, Thiamin, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12), Wheatflour, Rice Flour, Rapeseed Oil, Pork Gelatine, Barley Malt Extract, Cornflour, Palm Oil, Honey, Skimmed Milk, Sodium Bicarbonate, Tartaric Acid, Salt, Black Treacle, Beetroot Red, Caramelised Sugar Syrup, Natural Vanilla Flavouring

Additives: E162 Beetroot red , E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E330 Citric acid , E334 L(+)-tartaric acid , E428 Gelatine , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

Milk Chocolate (50%) (Sugar · Cocoa Butter · Cocoa Mass · Dried Skimmed Milk · Milk Fat · Lactose (Milk) · Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin) · Sultanas (18%) · Sugar · Glacé Cherries (Cherries · Glucose-Fructose Syrup · Fruit and Vegetable Concentrates (Black Carrot, Aronia) · Acidity Regulator: Citric Acid) · Glucose-Fructose Syrup · Oats · Crisped Rice (Rice · Sugar · Salt · Barley Malt Extract · Iron · Niacin · Pantothenic Acid · Riboflavins · Thiamin · Vitamin B6 · Folic Acid · Vitamin D · Vitamin B12) · Wheatflour* · Rice Flour · Rapeseed Oil · Pork Gelatine · Barley Malt Extract · Cornflour · Palm Oil · Honey · Dried Skimmed Milk · Raising Agent: Sodium Bicarbonate, Tartaric Acid · Salt · Black Treacle · Natural Colour: Beetroot Red · Caramelised Sugar Syrup · Natural Vanilla Flavouring.

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.

  • E162 Beetroot red Colours are substances which add or restore colour in a food, and include natural constituents of foods and natural sources which are normally not consumed as foods as such and not normally used as characteristic ingredients of 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.
  • E428 Gelatine Gelatine is a gelling agent made from collagen in animal skin and bones.
  • 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.

  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as 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.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
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.

  • Honey Honey, used as a sweetener.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • 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.
  • Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 773 chocolate candies

From least to most processed, this one ranks 613th. 91% of the chocolate candies 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 773 chocolate candies, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00842990, last edited 24 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.