Is it ultra-processed?
Menu

Is Sainsbury's Basics Milk Chocolate ultra-processed?

100g Milk chocolates Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Sainsbury's Basics Milk Chocolate

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:

  • 13 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score D

Less processed milk chocolates

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, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Skimmed Cows' Milk Powder, Whey Powder (Cows Milk), Butterfat (Cows Milk), Soya Lecithin, Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate, Vanilla Extract, Cocoa Solids 27%, Milk 14%

Additives: E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E476 Polyglycerol polyricinoleate

As written on the pack

Sugar, Cocoa Butter*, Cocoa Mass*, Skimmed Cows' Milk Powder, Whey Powder (Cows Milk), Butterfat (Cows Milk), Emulsifiers: Soya Lecithin, Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate; Vanilla Extract, Cocoa Solids 27% minimum, Milk Solids 14% minimum.

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.
  • E476 Polyglycerol polyricinoleate Polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR) is an emulsifier made from castor oil.

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.

  • 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.

  • Chocolates Products in the category "Chocolates" are at least group 3.
  • 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 279 milk chocolates

From least to most processed, this one ranks 164th. 93% of the milk chocolates 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 279 milk chocolates, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 01145885, last edited 24 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 D (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.