Ribena Mango & Lime
Processing
4
Ultra-processed
Group 4 of 4 on the NOVA scale
Additives listed
4
0 we grade moderate or higher
3 of them not yet assessed here
Nutrients
–
Nothing above the low band
Or no figures recorded at all
Three separate readings, kept apart on purpose. This is not a score, and none of it says this product is harmful.
Additives (4)
This label lists 2 thickeners and gelling agents, 1 acidity regulator and 1 sweetener.
E951
Aspartame
Artificial sweetener
What it is. An intense sweetener around 200 times sweeter than sugar, used in tiny amounts.
Why it is used. Sweetens diet drinks, sugar free gum and low calorie desserts.
What the evidence says. In 2023 IARC listed it as possibly carcinogenic, its weakest evidence tier. At the same time the expert intake committee JECFA kept the safe daily limit unchanged, noting you would need a very high daily intake to approach it, roughly a dozen or more cans of diet drink a day for an adult. So headline scary, practically low concern for normal use.
Permitted with an acceptable daily intake. People with the condition PKU must avoid it, which is why packs carry a phenylalanine note.
Assessed against IARC, JECFA, EFSA. Full entry for E951
Also on the label, not assessed here yet
- E325 Sodium lactate acidity regulator
- E410 Locust bean gum thickener
- E440 Pectin thickener
Names and jobs come from the register of additives permitted in Great Britain, which we have not finished transcribing: a code shown without a name is a gap in our coverage, not a finding that it is unapproved. Naming one is not grading it either. Full detail appears only where we have an assessment against a named authority, so all of this describes our coverage rather than these additives. Most are common and low concern.
Ingredients
Water, Fruit Juices from Concentrate 5% Orange 4%) Mango (0.5%) Lime (0.5%), Acid (Citric Acid Acidity Regulator (Sodium Lactate), Natural Flavourings, Vitamin C (Beta Carotene), Sweeteners (Aspartame, Acesulfame K Stables Pectin, Locust Bean Gum). Contains a source of Phenylalan
As printed on the pack, in the producer's own order: ingredients are listed by weight, so what comes first is most of what is in it. E numbers link to their assessment where we have one.