Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Chef Select Pulled BBQ chicken ultra-processed?

380 g Meals with chicken Sold in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands

Pack of Chef Select Pulled BBQ chicken

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:

  • 53 ingredients
  • 2 additives
  • Nutri-Score B

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

Pulled Chicken 20% (Chicken, Salt), Water, Red Quinoa 15% (Red Quinoa, Water), Tomato Passata, Brown Rice 9% (Brown Rice, Water), Spinach 5%, Sweetcorn 5%, Refried Beans 4% (Bayo Beans, Water, Vegetable Oil (RBD Vegetable Soybean Oil, Garlic Oil), Cornstarch, Iodized Salt, Onion), Sugar, Tomato Ketchup (Water, Tomato Paste, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Spirit Vinegar, Sugar, Modified Maize Starch, Salt, Acidity Regulator (Citric Acid), Preservative (Potassium Sorbate), Natural Flavouring), Black Turtle Beans 3%, Garlic Purée, Cider Vinegar, Rapeseed Oil, Cornflour, Smoked Paprika, Lemon Juice from Concentrate, Coriander, Cumin, Chipotle Chilli, Cajun Seasoning, Paprika, Salt, Cumin, Dried Onion, Dried Garlic, Black Pepper

Additives: E202 Potassium sorbate , E330 Citric acid

As written on the pack

20% Pulled Chicken (Chicken, Salt), Water, 15% Cooked Red Quinoa (Red Quinoa, Water), Tomato Passata, 9% Cooked Brown Rice (Brown Rice, Water), 5% Spinach, 5% Sweetcorn, 4% Refried Beans (Bayo Beans, Water, Vegetable Oil [RBD Vegetable Soybean Oil, Garlic Oil], Cornstarch, Iodized Salt, Onion), Sugar, Tomato Ketchup (Water, Tomato Paste, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Spirit Vinegar, Sugar, Modified Maize Starch, Salt, Acidity Regulator: Citric Acid; Preservative: Potassium Sorbate; Natural Flavouring), 3% Black Turtle Beans, Garlic Purée, Cider Vinegar, Rapeseed Oil, Cornflour, Smoked Paprika, Lemon Juice from Concentrate, Coriander, Ground Cumin, Dried Chipotle Chilli, Cajun Seasoning (Ground Paprika, Salt, Ground Cumin, Dried Onion, Dried Garlic, Ground Black Pepper.

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.

  • 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.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
8 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.

  • E202 Potassium sorbate 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.
  • Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.
  • Preservative Preservatives slow spoilage by microbes.
  • 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.
  • Meal kits Products in the category "Meal kits" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 213 meals with chicken

From least to most processed, this one ranks 174th. 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 4056489757870, 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 B (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.