Is Asia Specialities Sweet Chilli & Garlic Stir Fry Sauce ultra-processed?

Sauces 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:

Glucose
Modified starch
Fructose
E160c Paprika extract

16 ingredients
2 additives
Nutri-Score D

Less processed sauces

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

water, sugar (processing marker), rice vinegar 6%, modified maize starch (ultra-processing marker), glucose-fructose syrup (ultra-processing marker), red chilli paste 4% (red chilli pepper, salt (processing marker), acetic acid), garlic purée 3%, ginger 1.5%, concentrated tomato purée, rapeseed oil, salt (processing marker), paprika extract (ultra-processing marker), chilli

Additives: E160c Paprika extract , E260 Acetic acid

As written on the pack

water, sugar, rice vinegar (6%), modified maize starch, glucose-fructose syrup, red chilli paste (4%) (red chilli pepper, salt, acidity regulator: acetic acid), garlic purée (3%), ginger purée (1,5%), concentrated tomato purée, rapeseed oil, salt, colour: paprika extract, chilli flakes,

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.

E160c Paprika extract Paprika extract is a red-orange colour extracted from paprika peppers.
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.

Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.

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.

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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 2,962 sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 2459th. 60% of the sauces 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 2,962 sauces, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 4088600302553, last edited 10 August 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.