Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Trader Joe’s Brown Sugar Boba Mochi ultra-processed?

Pastries Sold in the United States

Pack of Trader Joe’s Brown Sugar Boba Mochi

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:

  • 16 ingredients
  • 4 additives
  • Nutri-Score D

Less processed pastries

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, wheat flour, modified tapioca starch, cocoa processed with alkali, filling (sugar, palm oil, whole milk powder, cocoa processed with alkali, mono- and diglycerides, natural flavor), caramel color, salt, natural flavor, soy lecithin, monoglycerides

Additives: E150c Ammonia caramel , E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids

Also detected, but not matched to one ingredient: E150c Ammonia caramel.

As written on the pack

sugar, wheat flour, modified tapioca starch, cocoa processed with alkali, filling (sugar, palm oil, whole milk powder, cocoa processed with alkali, mono - and diglycerides, natural flavor), caramel color, salt, natural flavor, soy lecithin, monoglycerides

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.

  • E150c Ammonia caramel Ammonia caramel is a brown colour made by heating sugars with ammonia compounds.
  • 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.
  • E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids are made from fats and glycerol.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • Modified starch Modified starch is starch altered physically, with enzymes or chemically, so that it thickens, gels or survives freezing and heating better than ordinary starch.
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.

  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • 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 205 pastries

From least to most processed, this one ranks 105th. 87% of the pastries 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 205 pastries, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00760294, last edited 15 August 2025), 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.