Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Sainsbury's Low Calorie Instant Hot Chocolate ultra-processed?

250g Instant chocolate powders Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Sainsbury's Low Calorie Instant Hot 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:

  • 22 ingredients
  • 6 additives
  • Nutri-Score D

Less processed instant chocolate powders

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

Whey powder (cows' milk), Fat reduced cocoa powder 25%, skimmed cow' milk powder 12%, sugar 10%, glucose syrup, coconut oil, polydextrose, thickener (guar gum, carrageenan), salt, maltodextrin, milk protein concentrate (cows' milk), flavouring, sweetener (sucralose), anti-caking agent (silicon dioxide), stabiliser (potassium phosphate)

Additives: E1200 Polydextrose , E340 Potassium phosphates , E407 Carrageenan , E412 Guar gum , E551 Silicon dioxide , E955 Sucralose

As written on the pack

Whey powder (cows' milk), Fat reduced cocoa powder 25%, skimmed cow' milk powder 12%, sugar 10%, glucose syrup, coconut oil, polydextrose, thickener (guar gum, carrageenan), salt, maltodextrin, milk protein concentrate (cows' milk), flavouring, sweetener (sucralose), anti-caking agent (silicon dioxide), stabiliser (potassium phosphate).

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.

  • E407 Carrageenan Carrageenan is a thickener and gelling agent extracted from red seaweed, used widely in dairy desserts, plant-based drinks and processed meats.
  • E412 Guar gum Guar gum is a thickener ground from the seeds of the guar plant.
  • E551 Silicon dioxide A food additive used to dissolve, dilute, disperse or otherwise physically modify a food additive or nutrient without altering its function -and without exerting any technological effect itself- in order to facilitate its handling, application or use of the food additive or nutrient.
  • E955 Sucralose Sucralose is a sweetener made by chlorinating sugar.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • Sweetener Sweeteners give sweetness with few or no calories, many at hundreds of times the strength of sugar.
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  • Thickener Thickeners, often gums or modified starches, make liquids more viscous so that a product feels richer than its ingredients alone would make it.

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.
  • Maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a white powder made by partly breaking down starch.
  • Milk proteins Milk proteins are proteins separated from milk, such as caseinates and whey protein concentrates, added to adjust texture or raise protein content.
  • 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.

  • Anti-caking agent Anti-caking agents are substances which reduce the tendency of individual particles of a foodstuff to adhere to one another.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.
  • 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 51 instant chocolate powders

From least to most processed, this one ranks 45th. 88% of the instant chocolate powders 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 51 instant chocolate powders, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 01682793, last edited 27 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 D (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.