Is Birds Eye Fish fillets ultra-processed?

Breaded fish 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
Vegetable fiber

17 ingredients
No additives
Nutri-Score A

Less processed breaded fish

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, Breadcrumb Coating#, Rapeseed Oil, #Breadcrumb Coating (Flour (Rice, Chickpea), Starch (processing marker) (Maize, Potato, Pea), Rice Semolina, Salt (processing marker), Potato, Pea Fibre (ultra-processing marker), Dextrose (ultra-processing marker), Black Pepper Extract)

As written on the pack

Alaska Pollock (FISH) (63%), Breadcrumb Coating#, Rapeseed Oil. #Breadcrumb Coating (Flour (Rice, Chickpea), Starch (Maize, Potato, Pea), Rice Semolina, Salt, Potato, Pea Fibre, Dextrose, Black Pepper Extract).

What makes it ultra-processed

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.
Vegetable fiber Isolated plant fibres, such as inulin, oat fibre or bamboo fibre, are extracted industrially and added to change texture or support "source of fibre" claims.

2 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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 163 breaded fish

From least to most processed, this one ranks 90th. 77% of the breaded fish 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 163 breaded fish, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5000116111527, 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 A (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.