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Is Charlie Bigham's Macaroni Cheese with Bacon ultra-processed?

Microwave meals Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Charlie Bigham's Macaroni Cheese with Bacon

It's processed, but not ultra-processed

  1. 1 Unprocessed
  2. 2 Kitchen staple
  3. 3 Processed
  4. 4 Ultra-processed

Whole foods combined with:

  • 49 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score D

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

Macaroni pasta (water, durum wheat semolina), milk, Cheddar cheese 18%, water, cream, mozzarella cheese 4%, bacon (pork, salt, preservatives (sodium nitrite), antioxidant (ascorbic acid)), white wine, ciabatta breadcrumbs (wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin), sunflower oil, olive oil, yeast, salt, sea salt), Regato cheese, butter, wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin), Grana Padano cheese (milk, preservative (lysozyme)), mustard, cornflour, rapeseed oil, salt, parsley, black pepper, rosemary, nutmeg, white pepper

Additives: E1105 Lysozyme , E250 Sodium nitrite , E300 Ascorbic acid

As written on the pack

Macaroni pasta (water, durum wheat semolina), milk, Cheddar cheese (18%) (milk), water, cream (milk), mozzarella cheese (4%) (milk), bacon (pork, salt, preservatives: sodium nitrite, antioxidant: ascorbic acid), white wine, ciabatta breadcrumbs (wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin), sunflower oil, olive oil, yeast, salt, sea salt), Regato cheese (milk), butter (milk), wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin), Grana Padano cheese (milk, preservative: lysozyme (egg)), mustard powder, cornflour, rapeseed oil, salt, parsley, black pepper, rosemary, ground nutmeg, white pepper.

What makes it processed

Processed ingredients

Processed foods in their own right, such as cheese or milk powder.

  • Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

Culinary ingredients

Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.

  • Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.

Preservation and traditional processing

Keep food safe or ferment it, like preservatives and cultures. A sign of processing, not ultra-processing.

  • E250 Sodium nitrite Preservatives are substances which prolong the shelf-life of foods by protecting them against deterioration caused by micro-organisms and/or which protect against growth of pathogenic micro-organisms.
  • Preservative Preservatives slow spoilage by microbes.

Category rules

Open Food Facts puts every product in this category in at least this group.

  • Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 351 microwave meals

From least to most processed, this one ranks 97th. 72% of the microwave meals 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 351 microwave meals, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5033665211110, 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 D (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.