Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Birds Eye Chunky crispy batter fish fingers ultra-processed?

360g Fish fingers Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Birds Eye Chunky crispy batter fish fingers

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:

  • 24 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed fish fingers

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

Alaska Pollock 56%, Batter Coating (Flour (Wheat, Rice, Maize), Water, Wheat Starch, Salt, Raising Agents (Disodium Diphosphates, Sodium Carbonates), Dextrose, Mustard, Wheat Gluten, Skimmed Milk Powder, Natural Flavouring, Garlic, Pepper Extract, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Rapeseed Oil

Additives: E450 Diphosphates , E450i Disodium diphosphate , E500 Sodium carbonates

As written on the pack

Alaska Pollock 56% (Fish), Batter Coating (Flour (Wheat, Rice, Maize), Water, Wheat Starch, Salt, Raising Agents (Disodium Diphosphates, Sodium Carbonates), Dextrose, Mustard, Wheat Gluten, Skimmed Milk Powder, Natural Flavouring (contains Mustard), Garlic Powder, Pepper Extract, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Rapeseed Oil.

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.

  • E450 Diphosphates Diphosphates are phosphate salts used as raising agents in baking powder, and to hold water in processed meats and cheese.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.

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.
  • Gluten Wheat gluten, sold as "vital wheat gluten", is the protein washed out of wheat flour.
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.
  • Milk powder Milk powder is milk with the water evaporated off: a preserved form of a whole food rather than an industrial extract.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 63 fish fingers

From least to most processed, this one ranks 60th. 63% of the fish fingers 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 63 fish fingers, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5000116125838, last edited 9 April 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.