Is bbq chicken breast pieces Tesco own ultra-processed?

Meals with chicken 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:

Dextrose
Glucose
E451 Triphosphates

24 ingredients
2 additives
Nutri-Score A

Less processed meals with chicken

Classic Butter Chicken The Spice Tailor 12 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 3
Chicken Tikka Masala & Pilau Rice Charlie Bigham's 52 ingredients · 1 additive NOVA group 3
Japanese Style Chicken Curry with rice Myprotein 23 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 3
Chicken Caesar Salad with Caesar dressing, croutons and Parmigiano Reggiano Sainsbury's 37 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 3

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

chicken breast 81%, sugar (processing marker), cornflour, rapeseed oil, tomato powder, spices, salt (processing marker), garlic powder, rice flour, onion powder, potato starch (processing marker), maize starch (processing marker), sodium triphosphate (ultra-processing marker), dextrose (ultra-processing marker), vinegar, smoked salt (processing marker), chilli, cumin, oregano, caramelised sugar syrup (processing marker), yeast extract, water, tamarind, concentrated lemon juice

Additives: E451 Triphosphates , E451i Pentasodium triphosphate

As written on the pack

chicken breast (81%), sugar, cornflour, rapeseed oil, tomato powder, spices, salt, garlic powder, rice flour, onion powder, potato starch, maize starch, stabiliser (sodium triphosphate), dextrose, vinegar, smoked salt, chilli, cumin, oregano, caramelised sugar syrup, yeast extract, water, tamarind concentrate, concentrated lemon juice

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.

E451 Triphosphates Emulsifiers are substances which make it possible to form or maintain a homogenous mixture of two or more immiscible phases such as oil and water in a foodstuff.

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.

4 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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 213 meals with chicken

From least to most processed, this one ranks 145th. 79% of the meals with chicken 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 213 meals with chicken, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5053947788079, last edited 6 September 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 A (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.