Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Powerade Mountain Berry Blast ultra-processed?

20oz Sweetened beverages Sold in the United States

Pack of Powerade Mountain Berry Blast

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:

  • 22 ingredients
  • 5 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed sweetened beverages

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

water, high fructose corn syrup, less than 5% of (citric acid), electrolytes (salt, magnesium, and calcium chlorides, monopotassium phosphate), natural flavors, modified food starch, calcium disodium edta, mct, saib, vitamins, vitamin b3, vitamin b6, vitamin b12 (niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride, cyanocobalamin), blue 1

Additives: E133 Brilliant blue FCF , E330 Citric acid , E340 Potassium phosphates , E340i Monopotassium phosphate , E385 Calcium disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate

As written on the pack

water, high fructose corn syrup, less than 5% of: citric acid, electrolytes (salt, magnesium, and calcium chlorides, mono-potassium phosphate), natural flavors, modified food starch, calcium disodium edta, mct, saib, vitamins b3, b6, b12 (niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride, cyanocobalamin), blue 1

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.

  • E133 Brilliant blue FCF Brilliant blue FCF is a synthetic blue dye, listed in the US as FD&C Blue No. 1.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • Modified starch Modified starch is starch altered physically, with enzymes or chemically, so that it thickens, gels or survives freezing and heating better than ordinary starch.

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.
2 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.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 548 sweetened beverages

From least to most processed, this one ranks 450th. 94% of the sweetened beverages 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 548 sweetened beverages, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0049000079357, last edited 15 April 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 C (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.