Is The Protein Ball Co. The Protein Ball Cocoa & Orange x6 45g ultra-processed?

45 g Sold in the United States and France

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Flavouring
Whey
Fruit juice concentrate

8 ingredients
No additives
Nutri-Score C

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

Dates, whey powder (ultra-processing marker), cashews, fruit juice concentrate (ultra-processing marker), rice starch (processing marker), cacao powder 6%, cacao nibs, natural orange flavour (ultra-processing marker)

As written on the pack

Dates, whey powder (milk), cashews, fruit juice concentrate, rice starch, cacao powder (6%), cacao nibs, natural orange flavour.

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.

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.
Fruit juice concentrate An ingredient mostly produced industrially and rarely used in home kitchens.

1 ingredient that would only make it processed

Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.

Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.

How the NOVA groups work

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0813047020043, last edited 10 August 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.