Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Mug Root Beer ultra-processed?

20oz Sold in the United States

Pack of Mug Root Beer

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:

  • 8 ingredients
  • 5 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, sodium benzoate, citric acid, NATURAL and ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, calcium disodium edta, quillaia extract

Additives: E150c Ammonia caramel , E211 Sodium benzoate , E330 Citric acid , E385 Calcium disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate , E999 Quillaia extract

Also detected, but not matched to one ingredient: E150c Ammonia caramel.

As written on the pack

CARBONATED WATER, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CARAMEL COLOR, SODIUM BENZOATE, CITRIC ACID, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA, QUILLAIA 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.

  • E150c Ammonia caramel Ammonia caramel is a brown colour made by heating sugars with ammonia compounds.
  • 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.
  • 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.

How the NOVA groups work

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 01291005, last edited 17 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.