Is this label ultra-processed?
Paste or type the ingredient list from a package in your hand. Each ingredient is looked up by its exact name in our list, and the ones a kitchen doesn't keep light up.
The example lists show how the checker works and are not any one product. Paste a real label from your cupboard. It stays in this browser.
This list has 3 ingredients a kitchen doesn't keep.
Whole wheat flour, water, , , yeast, soybean oil, salt, , preservatives (, ), , .
- A kitchen doesn't keep it
- A sugar by another name
- A preservative
- Not in our list
Tap any marked word for what it is and why it's there.
- Ingredients
- 12
- Markers
- 3
- Sugar names
- 2
- Preservatives
- 2
The first one is wheat gluten, 3rd on the list. Ingredients run in order of weight, so the one nearest the front is the biggest.
What your result means
Turn one package you buy every week to its ingredient list, and type or paste the whole list, brackets included.
- Nothing lit. None of the ingredients is one a kitchen doesn't keep, by our list. With added salt, sugar or oil it's group 3, without them group 1. Grey words aren't in our list yet, so look those up before you decide.
- One or more lit. It's group 4. The first lit word is the biggest of them by weight, since ingredients run in order of weight.
- Only a preservative marked. NOVA allows preservatives in group 3, though the 2026 US guidelines say to limit the artificial ones.
Next, check the other version on the shelf. If both are group 4, buy the one with more fiber and protein and less added sugar. The swap ladder shows the version with nothing lit for the common staples.
How it reads a list
It splits your text at commas and brackets, so an ingredient inside brackets counts as its own. It cleans each one (lowercase, spacing, "contains 2% or less of" and "organic" taken off, since organic doesn't change the group) and then looks it up by its exact name in our list of 919 names. A name that isn't in the list stays grey. It never guesses from part of a word, so "strawberry flavor blend" isn't called a flavoring unless that exact name is in the list.
One marker is enough for group 4. Ingredients run in order of weight, so the first marker on the list is the biggest of them. Sugar names are underlined: some are kitchen sugars (cane sugar, honey) and some are also markers (high-fructose corn syrup, dextrose). Preservatives get a softer mark, because NOVA allows them in group 3 foods too, though the 2025 to 2030 US guidelines say to limit the artificial ones.
The markers in our list
| Kind | Examples |
|---|---|
| A sugar a kitchen doesn't keep | high-fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin, dextrose, invert sugar, fructose, lactose |
| An oil a kitchen doesn't make | fully hydrogenated vegetable oil, fully hydrogenated soybean oil, fully hydrogenated cottonseed oil, fully hydrogenated rapeseed oil, fully hydrogenated palm oil, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, interesterified soybean oil |
| A protein a kitchen doesn't make | whey protein, whey, milk protein concentrate, casein, soy protein isolate, pea protein, wheat gluten, hydrolyzed soy protein |
| Meat a kitchen doesn't make | mechanically separated chicken |
| A flavoring | natural flavor, artificial flavor, natural and artificial flavors, flavor, smoke flavor, malt flavor, vanillin, natural vanilla flavor |
| A flavor enhancer | monosodium glutamate, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, yeast extract |
| A color | red 40, red 3, yellow 5, yellow 6, blue 1, blue 2, green 3, caramel color |
| An emulsifier | soy lecithin, mono- and diglycerides, datem, polysorbate 80, sodium stearoyl lactylate, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, sorbitan monostearate, propylene glycol monostearate |
| Emulsifying salts | sodium phosphate |
| A sweetener | aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame potassium, saccharin, stevia leaf extract, monk fruit extract, erythritol, xylitol |
| A thickener | xanthan gum, guar gum, gellan gum, locust bean gum, gum arabic, carrageenan, modified food starch, methylcellulose |
| A glazing agent | carnauba wax |
| An anti-foaming agent | dimethylpolysiloxane |
| A bulking agent | polydextrose, powdered cellulose |
Each entry follows the two kinds of marker in NOVA's own definition: substances a kitchen doesn't use (sugars like maltodextrin, protein isolates, hydrogenated oils) and cosmetic additives (flavors, colors, emulsifiers, sweeteners, thickeners). Your paste stays in this browser.
5 sources
- Monteiro CA, Cannon G, Levy RB, et al. Ultra-processed foods: what they are and how to identify them. Public Health Nutrition, 2019pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- US Department of Agriculture and US Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025 to 2030 (sugar names, p. 4, and the limits on artificial flavors, dyes, preservatives and low-calorie sweeteners)cdn.realfood.gov
- US Food and Drug Administration. Aspartame and other sweeteners in foodfda.gov
- Chassaing B, Compher C, Bonhomme B, et al. Randomized controlled-feeding study of dietary emulsifier carboxymethylcellulose reveals detrimental impacts on the gut microbiota and metabolome. Gastroenterology, 2022pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Sellem L, Srour B, Javaux G, et al. Food additive emulsifiers and risk of cardiovascular disease in the NutriNet-Santé cohort. BMJ, 2023pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
More tools
For adults looking at what they eat. It explains how food is made and doesn't grade your food or diagnose anything.
