Is Aldi Cooked Chicken Breast slices ultra-processed?

150g Cooked chicken breast slices Sold in the United Kingdom

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Dextrose
Glucose
E451 Triphosphates

6 ingredients
1 additive
Nutri-Score A

Less processed cooked chicken breast slices

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

chicken breast, Salt (processing marker), Brown Sugar (processing marker), Dextrose (ultra-processing marker), Stabiliser (Triphosphates (ultra-processing marker))

Additives: E451 Triphosphates

As written on the pack

CHICKEN BREAST, Salt, Brown Sugar, Dextrose, Stabiliser: Triphosphates.

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.

E451 Triphosphates Emulsifiers are substances which make it possible to form or maintain a homogenous mixture of two or more immiscible phases such as oil and water in a foodstuff.

Substances rarely used in home kitchens

Refined or extracted in factories, such as syrups made from starch or isolated proteins. The other hallmark of ultra-processed food.

Dextrose Dextrose is pure glucose crystallised from starch-derived syrup.
Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.

3 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.

Prepared meats Products in the category "Prepared meats" are at least group 3.
Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 53 cooked chicken breast slices

From least to most processed, this one ranks 29th. 85% of the cooked chicken breast slices 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 53 cooked chicken breast slices, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 4088600026008, last edited 29 April 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 A (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.