Is Aldi Tempura Chicken Mini Fillets ultra-processed?

300 g Chicken breasts 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
E415 Xanthan gum
E450 Diphosphates

18 ingredients
3 additives
Nutri-Score A

Less processed chicken breasts

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 fillet 66% (chicken breast, water, salt (processing marker)), rapeseed oil, maize starch (processing marker), rice flour, gram flour, maize flour, water, salt (processing marker), raising agents (sodium carbonates), diphosphates (ultra-processing marker), stabiliser (xanthan gum (ultra-processing marker)), dextrose (ultra-processing marker), potato starch (processing marker)

Additives: E415 Xanthan gum , E450 Diphosphates , E500 Sodium carbonates

As written on the pack

chicken breast fillet (66%) (chicken breast, water, salt), rapeseed oil, maize starch, rice flour, gram flour, maize flour, water, salt, raising agents: sodium carbonates, diphosphates, stabiliser: xanthan gum, dextrose, potato starch

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.

E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
E450 Diphosphates Diphosphates are phosphate salts used as raising agents in baking powder, and to hold water in processed meats and cheese.

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.

2 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.

Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 83 chicken breasts

From least to most processed, this one ranks 76th. 65% of the chicken breasts 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 83 chicken breasts, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 4088600146683, 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 A (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.