Is it ultra-processed?
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Sodium carbonates (E500)

No. Sodium carbonates (E500) is not one of the markers Open Food Facts uses to classify a food as processed or ultra-processed, so on its own it doesn't raise a product's NOVA group.

What it is

Sodium carbonates include washing soda and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). They are used as raising agents and to regulate acidity.

A product that contains it can still be ultra-processed for other reasons: 3,000 of the 3,324 products here that contain sodium carbonates (E500) (90%) are in group 4 because of other ingredients or additives.

Function

Stabiliser
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.
Thickener
Thickeners are substances which increase the viscosity of a foodstuff.

Functional class definitions from the EU food additives regulation, via Open Food Facts.

More about sodium carbonates (E500) on Wikidata

Where it turns up

Sodium carbonates (E500) appears in 3,324 of the 40,000 products on this site (8%).

Products containing sodium carbonates (E500)

Showing the 60 most popular of 3,324.

How the NOVA classification works