Is Tesco Oat Drink ultra-processed?

1litre Oat-based drinks Sold in the United Kingdom

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Maltodextrin
Vegetable fiber
E418 Gellan gum

15 ingredients
2 additives
Nutri-Score C

Less processed oat-based drinks

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, Oats 9%, Sunflower Oil (processing marker), Chicory Root Fibre (ultra-processing marker), Maltodextrin (ultra-processing marker), Tricalcium Phosphate, Sea Salt (processing marker), Stabiliser (Gellan Gum (ultra-processing marker)), Potassium iodide (processing marker), vitamins, vitamin B12, Riboflavin, Vitamin D2, including cereals containing gluten

Additives: E418 Gellan gum , potassium iodide

As written on the pack

Water, Oats (9%), Sunflower Oil, Chicory Root Fibre, Maltodextrin, Tricalcium Phosphate, Sea Salt, Stabiliser (Gellan Gum), Potassium iodide, Vitamin B12, Riboflavin, Vitamin D2. Allergy Advice For allergens, including cereals containing gluten, see ingredients in bold.

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.

E418 Gellan gum Stabilisers are substances which make it possible to maintain the physico-chemical state of a foodstuff; stabilisers include substances which enable the maintenance of a homogenous dispersion of two or more immiscible substances in a foodstuff, substances which stabilise, retain or intensify an existing colour of a foodstuff and substances which increase the binding capacity of the food, including the formation of cross-links between proteins enabling the binding of food pieces into re-constituted food.

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.

Maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a white powder made by partly breaking down starch.
Vegetable fiber Isolated plant fibres, such as inulin, oat fibre or bamboo fibre, are extracted industrially and added to change texture or support "source of fibre" claims.

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.
Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 188 oat-based drinks

From least to most processed, this one ranks 162nd. 62% of the oat-based drinks 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 188 oat-based drinks, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5057753892142, last edited 13 July 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.