Is Aunt Nellie's sliced PICKLED BEETS ultra-processed?

29g Pickles Sold in the United States and Germany

Yes, it's ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Less processed isn't automatically healthier, so compare the labels for what matters to you, such as sugar or salt.

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

beets, water, high fructose corn syrup (ultra-processing marker), vinegar, salt (processing marker), natural flavor (ultra-processing marker)

As written on the pack

BEETS, WATER, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, VINEGAR, SALT, NATURAL FLAVOR.

Added to change how the food looks, feels or tastes, not to keep it safe. A hallmark of ultra-processed food.

Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.

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.
High fructose corn syrup High-fructose corn syrup is made from corn starch: enzymes break it down to glucose and convert part of that into fructose, giving a syrup about as sweet as table sugar.
Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.

1 ingredient that would only make it processed

Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.

From least to most processed, this one ranks 298th. 33% of the pickles 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.

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0044300054639, last edited 12 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.