Is Chef Boyardee Beefaroni Pasta in Tomato and Meat Sauce ultra-processed?
Yes, it's ultra-processed
- 1 Unprocessed
- 2 Kitchen staple
- 3 Processed
- 4 Ultra-processed
Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:
- Flavouring
- Glucose
- High fructose corn syrup
- Modified starch
- Fructose
- E150c Ammonia caramel
- and 1 more
- 31 ingredients
- 3 additives
- Nutri-Score A
Less processed noodles
Ingredients
Ultra-processing Processing
tomatoes (tomato puree, water), water, pasta (durum wheat semolina, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), beef, less than 2% of (high fructose corn syrup (ultra-processing marker)), salt (processing marker), textured vegetable protein (soy flour, caramel color), modified corn starch (ultra-processing marker), enzyme modified cheese (cheddar cheese (processing marker), milk, cultures, salt (processing marker), enzymes), water, sodium phosphate, xanthan gum (ultra-processing marker), flavorings (ultra-processing marker), citric acid, soybean oil (processing marker)
Additives: E150c Ammonia caramel , E330 Citric acid , E415 Xanthan gum
As written on the pack
TOMATOES (TOMATO PUREE, WATER), WATER, ENRICHED PASTA (DURUM WHEAT SEMOLINA, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), BEEF, LESS THAN 2% OF: HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SALT, TEXTURED VEGETABLE PROTEIN (SOY FLOUR, CARAMEL COLOR), MODIFIED CORN STARCH, ENZYME MODIFIED CHEESE (CHEDDAR CHEESE [PASTEURIZED MILK, CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES), WATER, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, XANTHAN GUM), FLAVORINGS, CITRIC ACID, SOYBEAN OIL
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.
- E150c Ammonia caramel Ammonia caramel is a brown colour made by heating sugars with ammonia compounds.
- E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
- Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
- 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.
- 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.
- Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
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.
- Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
- Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
- Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.
- Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.
Among 416 noodles
From least to most processed, this one ranks 296th. 73% of the noodles here are ultra-processed.
About this information
- Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0064144043026, last edited 27 September 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.