Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Annie Chun's Japanese-style udon soup bowl ultra-processed?

5.9 oz Udon Sold in the United States and France

Pack of Annie Chun's Japanese-style udon soup bowl

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:

  • 45 ingredients
  • 5 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed udon

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

Noodles (water), wheat flour, modified tapioca starch, salt, lactic acid, soup base (soy sauce, water), soybeans, wheat, salt, alcohol, dextrose, sake (water, rice, koji, salt), seaweed extract (seaweed extract, maltose syrup, salt, sugar, yeast extract), cane sugar, shiitake mushroom extract (dextrin, shiitake mushroom, salt, yeast extract), yeast extract, rice vinegar, molasses, salt, toppings (bok choy), green onion, tofu (soybeans, glucono delta lactone), potassium carbonate, dehydrated shiitake mushroom, sugar, chili pepper

Additives: E1400 Dextrin , E270 Lactic acid , E501 Potassium carbonates , E501i Potassium carbonate , E575 Glucono-delta-lactone

As written on the pack

Noodles: water, wheat flour, modified tapioca starch, salt, lactic acid. soup base: soy sauce (water, soybeans, wheat, salt, alcohol), dextrose, salted sake (water, rice, koji, salt), seaweed extract (seaweed extract, maltose syrup, salt, sugar, yeast extract), cane sugar, shiitake mushroom extract powder (dextrin, shiitake mushroom, salt, yeast extract), yeast extract, rice vinegar, molasses, salt. toppings: dehydrated bok choy, freeze dried green onion, freeze dried tofu (soybeans, glucono delta lactone), potassium carbonate, dehydrated shiitake mushroom, sugar, dehydrated chili pepper flake.

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.

  • E1400 Dextrin Dextrin is starch partly broken down by heat or acid, used as a thickener, binder and coating.
  • 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.
5 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.

  • Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.
  • 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 udon

From least to most processed, this one ranks 11th. 50% of the udon 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 udon, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0765667725986, last edited 18 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 C (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.