Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Chef Select Salt & pepper chicken ultra-processed?

350 g Meals with chicken Sold in the United Kingdom and Germany

Pack of Chef Select Salt & pepper 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:

  • 56 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score A

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

salt 57%, pepper rice mix (water, long grain rice, scrambled egg (whole egg, water, rapeseed oil, skimmed milk powder, cornflour, salt, white pepper, citric acid, lactic acid), peas, red peppers, onion, spring onion), salt 23%, pepper rice sauce (water, soy sauce (water, soya beans, wheat, salt, sugar), sesame seed oil, rapeseed oil, ginger, garlic purée, modified maize starch, yeast extract, spice blend (gram flour, sugar, dried glucose syrup, spice extracts (black pepper, clove, cinnamon, fennel, anise)), onion powder, caramelised sugar syrup, salt, sugar, white pepper, agar, star anise, clove), chicken breast 20% (chicken 96%, dextrose, potato starch, salt)

Additives: E270 Lactic acid , E330 Citric acid , E406 Agar

As written on the pack

57% salt , pepper rice mix (water, long grain rice, scrambled egg [whole egg, water, rapeseed oil, skimmed milk powder, cornflour, salt, white pepper, acidity regulator: citric acid, preservative: lactic acid], peas, red peppers, onion, spring onion), 23% salt , pepper rice sauce (water, soy sauce [water, soya beans, wheat, salt, sugar], sesame seed oil, rapeseed oil, ginger purée, garlic purée, modified maize starch, yeast extract, spice blend [gram flour, sugar, dried glucose syrup, spice extracts (black pepper, clove, cinnamon, fennel, anise)], onion powder, caramelised sugar syrup, salt, sugar, ground white pepper, thickener: agar, ground star anise powder, ground clove powder), 20% marinated cooked chicken breast (96% chicken, dextrose, potato starch, salt),

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.

  • E406 Agar A food additive used to dissolve, dilute, disperse or otherwise physically modify a food additive or nutrient without altering its function -and without exerting any technological effect itself- in order to facilitate its handling, application or use of the food additive or nutrient.
  • 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.

  • 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.
  • Glucose syrup Glucose syrup is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
7 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.
  • 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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 213 meals with chicken

From least to most processed, this one ranks 188th. 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 4056489902768, last edited 30 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.