Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Mars Food Maltesers ultra-processed?

158g Chocolate candies Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Mars Food Maltesers

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:

  • 20 ingredients
  • 7 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

Sugar, skimmed milk powder, cocoa butter, glucose syrup, barley malt extract, cocoa mass, palm fat, whey permeate, milk fat, soya lecithin, e492, palm kernel fat, wheat flour, e341, e501, e500, wheat gluten, whey powder, salt, pectins

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, glucose syrup, barley malt extract, cocoa mass, palm fat, whey permeate (milk), milk fat, emulsifiers (soya lecithin, E492), palm kernel fat, wheat flour, raising agents (E341, E501, E500), wheat gluten, whey powder (milk), salt, glazing agent (pectins).

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.

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.
  • 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.
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 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.
  • 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 776 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 776 chocolate candies, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5000159571463, last edited 19 September 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.