Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Bramwells Lentil soup ultra-processed?

400g Lentil soups Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Bramwells Lentil soup

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:

  • 21 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score A

Less processed lentil soups

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

water, red lentils 23%, carrot 11%, tomato purée, onion, modified maize starch, wheat flour, salt, flavourings, rapeseed oil, herbs, thickener (guar gum), onion, dextrose, colour (carotenes), stabiliser (calcium chloride), cumin, spice extract

Additives: E160a Carotene , E412 Guar gum , E509 Calcium chloride

As written on the pack

water, red lentils (23%), carrot (11%), tomato purée, onion, modified maize starch, wheat flour, salt, flavourings, rapeseed oil, herbs, thickener: guar gum, onion powder, smoked dextrose, colour: carotenes, stabiliser: calcium chloride, cumin, spice extract

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.

  • E160a Carotene Carotenes are orange-yellow pigments, either synthesised or extracted from carrots, algae or palm oil.
  • E412 Guar gum Guar gum is a thickener ground from the seeds of the guar plant.
  • 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.
  • Thickener Thickeners, often gums or modified starches, make liquids more viscous so that a product feels richer than its ingredients alone would make it.
  • 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.
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.

  • 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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 23 lentil soups

From least to most processed, this one ranks 23rd. 30% of the lentil soups 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 23 lentil soups, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 4088600352169, 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.