Is it ultra-processed?
Menu

Is Sainsbury's Milk chocolate spread ultra-processed?

400g Cocoa and hazelnuts spreads Sold in the United Kingdom and France

Pack of Sainsbury's Milk chocolate spread

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:

  • 12 ingredients
  • 2 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed cocoa and hazelnuts spreads

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, Rapeseed Oil, Palm Oil, Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder 5%, Full Fat Cows' Milk Powder, Whey Powder (Cows' Milk), Skimmed Cows' Milk Powder 2.5%, Cocoa Powder, Sunflower Lecithin, Flavouring, Hazelnuts

Additives: E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin

As written on the pack

Sugar, Rapeseed Oil, Palm Oil, Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder (5%), Full Fat Cows' Milk Powder, Whey Powder (Cows' Milk), Skimmed Cows' Milk Powder (2.5%), Cocoa Powder, Emulsifier (Sunflower Lecithin), Flavouring, Hazelnuts.

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.
  • 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.

  • 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.
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.

  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • 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 55 cocoa and hazelnuts spreads

From least to most processed, this one ranks 34th. 96% of the cocoa and hazelnuts spreads 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 55 cocoa and hazelnuts spreads, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00659697, last edited 18 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.