Is Aldi Meatballs ultra-processed?

500g Cooked meats Sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Dextrose
Glucose

28 ingredients
No additives
Nutri-Score D

Less processed cooked meats

Breakfast Pork Patties Oakhurst 13 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 3
Taste The Difference Finely Sliced Yorkshire Cured Ham Sainsbury's 7 ingredients · 2 additives NOVA group 3
Taste the Difference Honey Roast 8 Finely Sliced Yorkshire Cured British Ham Slices Taste the difference 11 ingredients · 2 additives NOVA group 3
Rare roast beef Marks & Spencer 3 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 3

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

pork 81%, onion 6%, egg white, breadcrumbs 5% (wheat flour, water, salt (processing marker), yeast), mustard (water, mustard seed, white wine vinegar, salt (processing marker), spice extracts), salt (processing marker), pepper, dextrose (ultra-processing marker), coriander, garlic, rapeseed oil, nutmeg, parsley, ginger, citrus extract, ginger extract, nutmeg, pepper extract, coriander

As written on the pack

pork (81%), onion (6%), pasteurised egg white, breadcrumbs (5%) (wheat flour, water, salt, yeast), mustard (water, mustard seed, white wine vinegar, salt, spice extracts), salt, pepper, dextrose, coriander, garlic, rapeseed oil, nutmeg, parsley, ginger, citrus extract, ginger extract, nutmeg extract, pepper extract, coriander extract

What makes it ultra-processed

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.

1 ingredient 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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 18 cooked meats

From least to most processed, this one ranks 13th. 56% of the cooked meats 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 18 cooked meats, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 4088600158129, last edited 27 March 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 D (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.