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Is Alpenfest style Curry Wurst ultra-processed?

221.2g German sausages Sold in the United Kingdom, France and 2 more countries

Pack of Alpenfest style Curry Wurst

Yes, it's ultra-processed

  1. 1 Unprocessed
  2. 2 Kitchen staple
  3. 3 Processed
  4. 4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

  • 34 ingredients
  • 5 additives
  • Nutri-Score D

Less processed german sausages

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 sausage 55% (pork 81%, water, nitrite curing salt, salt, preservative (sodium nitrite)), spices, dextrose, spirit vinegar, spice extracts, stabiliser (diphosphates), antioxidant (ascorbic acid), curry sauce 45% (water, sugar, spirit vinegar, tomato purée, modified maize starch, salt, spices, thickener (xanthan gum), caramel, spice extracts), curry 0.5% (curry, salt, dextrose, rapeseed oil, anti-caking agent (silicon dioxide))

Additives: E250 Sodium nitrite , E300 Ascorbic acid , E415 Xanthan gum , E450 Diphosphates , E551 Silicon dioxide

As written on the pack

55% cooked and smoked pork sausage (81% pork, water, nitrite curing salt [salt, preservative: sodium nitrite), spices, dextrose, spirit vinegar, spice extracts, stabiliser: diphosphates, antioxidant: ascorbic acid), 45% curry sauce (water, sugar, spirit vinegar, double concentrated tomato purée, modified maize starch, salt, spices, thickener: xanthan gum, caramel powder, spice extracts), 0,5% curry powder (curry, salt, dextrose, rapeseed oil, anti-caking agent: silicon dioxide),

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.
  • E551 Silicon dioxide A food additive used to dissolve, dilute, disperse or otherwise physically modify a food additive or nutrient without altering its function -and without exerting any technological effect itself- in order to facilitate its handling, application or use of the food additive or nutrient.
  • Thickener Thickeners, often gums or modified starches, make liquids more viscous so that a product feels richer than its ingredients alone would make it.
  • Modified starch Modified starch is starch altered physically, with enzymes or chemically, so that it thickens, gels or survives freezing and heating better than ordinary starch.

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.
9 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.

  • E250 Sodium nitrite Preservatives are substances which prolong the shelf-life of foods by protecting them against deterioration caused by micro-organisms and/or which protect against growth of pathogenic micro-organisms.
  • Prepared meats Products in the category "Prepared meats" are at least group 3.
  • Sausages Products in the category "Sausages" are at least group 3.
  • Anti-caking agent Anti-caking agents are substances which reduce the tendency of individual particles of a foodstuff to adhere to one another.
  • Preservative Preservatives slow spoilage by microbes.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Sauce A prepared sauce used as an ingredient.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 12 german sausages

From least to most processed, this one ranks 11th. 83% of the german sausages 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 12 german sausages, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 20082413, last edited 13 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.