Is Cape Cod Recipe Chicken Salad ultra-processed?

40 oz Meals with chicken Sold in the United States

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Dextrose
Glucose
E415 Xanthan gum

28 ingredients
2 additives
Nutri-Score D

Less processed meals with chicken

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

cooked chicken white meat, dressing (soybean oil (processing marker), water, honey (processing marker), cider vinegar, sugar (processing marker), egg yolks, dextrose (ultra-processing marker), distilled vinegar, corn syrup (ultra-processing marker), egg whites, salt (processing marker), poppy seeds, lemon, xanthan gum (ultra-processing marker), nisin preparation (nisin, salt (processing marker)), spice, paprika), celery, cranberries (cranberries, sugar (processing marker), sunflower oil (processing marker)), pecans, textured soy protein

Additives: E234 Nisin , E415 Xanthan gum

As written on the pack

cooked chicken white meat, dressing (soybean oil, water, honey, cider vinegar, sugar, egg yolks, cultured dextrose, distilled vinegar, corn syrup, egg whites, salt, poppy seeds, lemon concentrate, xanthan gum, nisin preparation (nisin, salt), spice, extractives of paprika), celery , dried cranberries (cranberries, sugar, sunflower oil), pecans, textured soy protein

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.

E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.

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.

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.

Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.
Honey Honey, used as a sweetener.
Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 213 meals with chicken

From least to most processed, this one ranks 147th. 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 0857524002061, last edited 21 August 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 D (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.