Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Asia Specialties Sweet Chilli Sauce ultra-processed?

300 g Sweet chili sauces Sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland

Pack of Asia Specialties Sweet Chilli Sauce

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:

  • 15 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed sweet chili 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

sugar, water, glucose-fructose syrup, red chilli paste 11% (red chillies, salt, acetic acid), garlic purée (garlic, sugar, salt, acetic acid), modified maize starch, acetic acid, salt

Additives: E260 Acetic acid

As written on the pack

sugar, water, glucose-fructose syrup, red chilli paste (11%) (red chillies, salt, acidity regulator: acetic acid), garlic purée (garlic, sugar, salt, acidity regulator: acetic acid), modified maize starch, acidity regulator: acetic acid, salt,

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.

  • 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 15 sweet chili sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 10th. 87% of the sweet chili 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 15 sweet chili sauces, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 4088600311357, last edited 3 June 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 E (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.