Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Vanilla lowfat milk, vanilla ultra-processed?

Milks Sold in the United States

Pack of Vanilla lowfat milk, vanilla

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:

  • 14 ingredients
  • 4 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed milks

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

Lowfat milk with vitamin a palmitate, vitamin d3 added, sugar, less than 2% of modified cornstarch, natural and artificial flavor, calcium carbonate, cellulose gel, gellan gum, potassium citrate, carrageenan, cellulose gum, caramel color, salt, riboflavin for color

Additives: E150c Ammonia caramel , E407 Carrageenan , E418 Gellan gum , E466 Sodium carboxy methyl cellulose

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

As written on the pack

Lowfat milk with vitamin a palmitate and vitamin d3 added, sugar, less than 2% of modified cornstarch, natural and artificial flavor, calcium carbonate, cellulose gel, gellan gum, potassium citrate, carrageenan, cellulose gum, caramel color, salt, riboflavin for color.

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.
  • E407 Carrageenan Carrageenan is a thickener and gelling agent extracted from red seaweed, used widely in dairy desserts, plant-based drinks and processed meats.
  • 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.
  • E466 Sodium carboxy methyl cellulose Carboxymethyl cellulose is a thickener made by chemically modifying cellulose from wood or cotton.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
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.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 440 milks

From least to most processed, this one ranks 413th. 24% of the milks 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 440 milks, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0028000896256, last edited 4 June 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.