Is Ricola The Original Natural Herb Cough Drops ultra-processed?
It's processed, but not ultra-processed
- 1 Unprocessed
- 2 Kitchen staple
- 3 Processed
- 4 Ultra-processed
Whole foods combined with:
- 16 ingredients
- No additives
Less processed confectioneries
Ingredients
Ultra-processing Processing
Active ingredient (menthol 4.8 mg Inactive Ingredients color caramel), extract of a Ricola herb mixture (elder, horehound, hyssop, lemon balm, inden flowers, mallow, peppermint, sage, thyme, wild thyme), natural flayor, starch syrup, sugar (processing marker)
As written on the pack
Active ingredient: menthol 4.8 mg Inactive Ingredients color caramel, extract of a Ricola herb mixture (elder, horehound, hyssop, lemon balm, inden flowers, mallow, peppermint, sage, thyme, wild thyme), natural flayor, starch syrup, sugar
What makes it processed
Culinary ingredients
Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.
- Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
Category rules
Open Food Facts puts every product in this category in at least this group.
- Candies Products in the category "Candies" are at least group 3.
- Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.
Among 15 hard candies
From least to most processed, this one ranks 1st. 87% of the hard candies here are ultra-processed.
About this information
- Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0036602649712, last edited 14 February 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.
- General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.