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Is Nestlé Quality Street ultra-processed?

600gm Assorted chocolate candies Sold in the United Kingdom, Belgium and 2 more countries

Pack of Nestlé Quality Street

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:

  • 30 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed bonbons

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, glucose syrup, sweetened condensed skimmed milk (skimmed milk, sugar), vegetable fats (palm, shea), cocoa mass, whole milk powder, cocoa butter, glucose-fructose syrup, coconut, whey product, butter, hazelnuts, whey powder, lecithins, mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, fat-reduced cocoa powder, butterfat, salt, flavourings, lactic acid, find out more at ra, org important young children (less than 4 years), have limited chewing ability and could choke on small sweets, nestleⓡ good food, good life

Additives: E270 Lactic acid , E322 Lecithins , E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids

As written on the pack

sugar, glucose syrup, sweetened condensed skimmed milk (skimmed milk, sugar), vegetable fats (palm, shea), cocoa mass, whole milk powder, cocoa butter, glucose-fructose syrup, coconut, whey powder product (milk), butter (milk), hazelnuts, whey powder (milk), emulsifiers (lecithins, mono - and diglycerides of fatty acids), fat-reduced cocoa powder, butterfat (milk), salt, flavourings, acid (lactic acid), may contain peanuts and other tree nuts, rainforest alliance certified cocoa, find out more at ra,org important young children (less than 4 years) have limited chewing ability and could choke on small sweets, nestleⓡ good food, good life,, 09-2035

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.
  • E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids are made from fats and glycerol.
  • 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.
  • Glucose syrup Glucose syrup is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • 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.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
  • Whey product An ingredient mostly produced industrially and rarely used in home kitchens.
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.
  • 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 19 assorted chocolate candies

From least to most processed, this one ranks 3rd. 100% of the assorted 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 19 assorted chocolate candies, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 8445290146434, last edited 26 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.