Is it ultra-processed?
Menu

Is Carbonara Buldak Spicy Ramen Artificial Spicy Chicken Flavor ultra-processed?

3.7 oz Pasta dishes Sold in the United States, France and Thailand

Pack of Carbonara Buldak Spicy Ramen Artificial Spicy Chicken Flavor

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:

  • 81 ingredients
  • 16 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed pasta dishes

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

Rice Cake (Rice), Salt, Citric Acid, Alcohol (to preserve freshness), Buldak Sauce (Water), Sugar, Dextrin, Salt, Red Pepper, Soybean Oil, Acid Hydrolyzed Soy, Onion, Yeast Extract Powder, Corn Syrup, Soy Sauce (Water, Soybean, Salt, Wheat), Garlic, Monosodium Glutamate, Potato Starch, Red Pepper Seed Oil, Artificial Chicken Flavor, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Corn Oil, Paprika Color, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Capsicum Oleoresin, Wheat Starch, Black Pepper Powder, Corn Starch, Maltodextrin, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, Rice, Habanero Pepper Oleoresin, Spices, Silicon Dioxide, Lactic Acid Bacteria, Oil (Palm Oil, Coconut Oil), Carbonara Powder (Milk Cream), Whey Powder, Nonfat Milk Powder, Salt, Dextrin, Sugar, Corn Starch, Lactose, Potato Starch, Yeast Extract Powder, Soybean Oil, Garlic, Palm Oil, Butter, Whole Milk Powder, Mozzarella Cheese, Potassium Phosphate, Sodium Caseinate, Lecithin, mono- and Diglycerides, Black Pepper Powder, Parsley, Enzyme Modified Cheddar Cheese, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, Basil, Sodium Phosphate, Arabic Gum, Citric Acid, Lactic Acid, Monosodium Glutamate, Sodium Polyphosphate, Annatto, Paprika

Additives: E1400 Dextrin , E14XX Modified Starch , E160b Annatto , E160c Paprika extract , E270 Lactic acid , E322 Lecithins , E322i Lecithin , E330 Citric acid , E340 Potassium phosphates , E414 Acacia gum , E452 Polyphosphates , E452i Sodium polyphosphate , E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids , E621 Monosodium glutamate , E627 Disodium guanylate , E631 Disodium inosinate

As written on the pack

Rice Cake: Rice, Salt, Citric Acid, Alcohol (to preserve freshness) Buldak Sauce: Water, Sugar, Dextrin, Salt, Red Pepper Powder, Soybean Oil, Acid Hydrolyzed Soy, Onion, Yeast Extract Powder, Corn Syrup, Soy Sauce (Water, Soybean, Salt, Wheat), Garlic, Monosodium Glutamate, Potato Modified Starch, Red Pepper Seed Oil, Artificial Chicken Flavor, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Corn Oil, Paprika Color, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Capsicum Oleoresin, Wheat Starch, Black Pepper Powder, Corn Starch, Maltodextrin, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, Rice Powder, Habanero Pepper Oleoresin, Spices, Silicon Dioxide, Lactic Acid Bacteria Powder, Palm & Coconut Oil Carbonara Powder: Milk Cream, Whey Powder, Nonfat Milk Powder, Salt, Dextrin, Sugar, Corn Starch, Lactose, Potato Modified Starch, Yeast Extract Powder, Soybean Oil, Garlic, Palm Oil, Butter, Whole Milk Powder, Mozzarella Cheese, Potassium Phosphate, Sodium Caseinate, Lecithin, Mono & Diglycerides, Black Pepper Powder, Parsley, Enzyme Modified Cheddar Cheese, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, Basil, Sodium Phosphate, Arabic Gum, Citric Acid, Lactic Acid, Monosodium Glutamate, Sodium Polyphosphate, Color (Annatto, Paprika), Artificial Flavors CONTAINS WHEAT, SOYBEAN, MILK, TREE NUTS(COCONUT)

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.

  • E1400 Dextrin Dextrin is starch partly broken down by heat or acid, used as a thickener, binder and coating.
  • E14xx Modified Starch Modified starches (E1400 to E1452) are starches treated physically, with enzymes or chemically so that they thicken and hold up to heating, freezing or acidity better than ordinary starch.
  • E160b Annatto Colours are substances which add or restore colour in a food, and include natural constituents of foods and natural sources which are normally not consumed as foods as such and not normally used as characteristic ingredients of food.
  • E160c Paprika extract Paprika extract is a red-orange colour extracted from paprika peppers.
  • E322 Lecithins Lecithins are fatty substances extracted mostly from soybeans, sunflower seeds or eggs, used as emulsifiers to keep fat and water mixed, for example in chocolate.
  • E414 Acacia gum Gum arabic (acacia gum) is the hardened sap of acacia trees, used to stabilise flavour emulsions in soft drinks and to coat sweets.
Show 5 more

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.

  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • High fructose corn syrup High-fructose corn syrup is made from corn starch: enzymes break it down to glucose and convert part of that into fructose, giving a syrup about as sweet as table sugar.
  • Lactose Lactose is milk sugar, crystallised industrially from whey, a by-product of cheese making.
  • Maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a white powder made by partly breaking down starch.
  • Whey Whey is the liquid left over from cheese making, usually dried into a powder and used as a cheap source of milk solids, protein and lactose.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
Show 1 more
  • Potato starch An ingredient mostly produced industrially and rarely used in home kitchens.
9 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.
  • 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.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.
  • Sauce A prepared sauce used as an ingredient.
  • Milk powder Milk powder is milk with the water evaporated off: a preserved form of a whole food rather than an industrial extract.
  • Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 544 pasta dishes

From least to most processed, this one ranks 544th. 72% of the pasta dishes 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 544 pasta dishes, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 8801073211506, last edited 1 October 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 E (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.