Is it ultra-processed?
Menu

Is Birchwood Slow Cooked Buffalo Pulled Chicken ultra-processed?

400g Chicken preparations Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Birchwood Slow Cooked Buffalo Pulled Chicken

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:

  • 46 ingredients
  • 7 additives
  • Nutri-Score B

Less processed chicken preparations

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 73%, buffalo style hot sauce 16% (water, barley malt vinegar, rice vinegar, maize starch, sugar, salted butter (butter, salt), lime juice concentrate, salt, cayenne pepper, jalapeño pepper, garlic, paprika extract), marinade 8% (water, glucose syrup, salt, stabilisers (diphosphates), triphosphates, modified maize starch, acidity regulators (sodium citrates), citric acid, yeast extract), barbecue flavour glaze 3% (sugar, maize flour, salt, tomato, dextrose, yeast extract, smoke flavouring, modified maize starch, colours (plain caramel), paprika extract, acidity regulators (citric acid), malic acid, cayenne pepper, onion, garlic)

Additives: E150a Plain caramel , E160c Paprika extract , E296 Malic acid , E330 Citric acid , E331 Sodium citrates , E450 Diphosphates , E451 Triphosphates

As written on the pack

73% chicken, 16% buffalo style hot sauce (water, barley malt vinegar, rice vinegar, maize starch, sugar, salted butter [butter (milk), salt], lime juice concentrate, salt, cayenne pepper, jalapeño pepper, garlic powder, paprika extract), 8% marinade (water, glucose syrup, salt, stabilisers: diphosphates, triphosphates, modified maize starch, acidity regulators: sodium citrates, citric acid, yeast extract), 3% barbecue flavour glaze (sugar, maize flour, salt, tomato powder, dextrose, yeast extract, smoke flavouring, modified maize starch, colours: plain caramel, paprika extract, acidity regulators: citric acid, malic acid, cayenne pepper, onion powder, garlic powder),

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.

  • E150a Plain caramel Plain caramel is a brown colour made by heating sugars.
  • E160c Paprika extract Paprika extract is a red-orange colour extracted from paprika peppers.
  • E450 Diphosphates Diphosphates are phosphate salts used as raising agents in baking powder, and to hold water in processed meats and cheese.
  • 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.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
Show 1 more
  • 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.

  • 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.
  • Glucose syrup Glucose syrup is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
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.

  • Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
  • 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.
  • Sauce A prepared sauce used as an ingredient.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 187 chicken preparations

From least to most processed, this one ranks 186th. 79% of the chicken preparations 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 187 chicken preparations, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 4056489757399, last edited 27 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 B (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.