Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Baresa Italian Style Tomato & Herb Pasta Bake Sauce ultra-processed?

500 g Pasta sauces Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Baresa Italian Style Tomato & Herb Pasta Bake 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:

  • 31 ingredients
  • 5 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed pasta 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

Tomat Ingredients 73% Tomato Purée, Tomatoes 9%, Vegetable Oils (Sunflower Seeds, Rapeseed, Soy in varying proportions), Onion 4.5%, Sugar, Lactose, Modified Maize Starch, Basil 0.9%, Salt, Egg Yolk Powder Enzyme Modified (Egg Yolk, Salt, Glucose Syrup, Anti-Caking Agent (Silicon Dioxide), Enzymes), Cheese Powder Cheese Solids, Whey Powder, Emulsifier (Sodium Citrate), Garlic Purée, Acidity Regulator (Citric Acid), Stabilizer (Xanthan Gum), Paprika Extract, Flavourings, Black Pepper

Additives: E160c Paprika extract , E330 Citric acid , E331 Sodium citrates , E415 Xanthan gum , E551 Silicon dioxide

As written on the pack

Tomat Ingredients 73% Tomato Purée, 9% Tomatoes, Vegetable Oils (Sunflower Seeds, Rapeseed, Soy in varying proportions), 4.5% Onion Purée, Sugar, Lactose (Milk), Modified Maize Starch, 0.9% Basil, Salt, Egg Yolk Powder Enzyme Modified [Egg Yolk, Salt, Glucose Syrup, Anti-Caking Agent: Silicon Dioxide; Enzymes], Cheese Powder Cheese Solids (Milk), Whey Powder (Milk), Emulsifier: Sodium Citrate], Garlic Purée, Acidity Regulator: Citric Acid; Stabilizer: Xanthan Gum; Paprika Extract, Flavourings, Ground Black Pepper.

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.
  • E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
  • 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.
  • Emulsifier Emulsifiers keep fat and water from separating, giving products a smooth, stable texture over a long shelf life.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • 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.
  • Glucose syrup Glucose syrup is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • Lactose Lactose is milk sugar, crystallised industrially from whey, a by-product of cheese making.
  • Whey Whey is the liquid left over from cheese making, usually dried into a powder and used as a cheap source of milk solids, protein and lactose.
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.

  • Anti-caking agent Anti-caking agents are substances which reduce the tendency of individual particles of a foodstuff to adhere to one another.
  • 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.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 317 pasta sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 315th. 49% of the pasta 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 317 pasta sauces, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 4056489865421, last edited 26 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 C (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.