Is Dolmio Bolognese Pasta Sauce ultra-processed?

500g Bolognese-style vegetarian sauces Sold in Australia and New Zealand

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Thickener
Modified starch

16 ingredients
No additives
Nutri-Score A

Less processed bolognese-style vegetarian sauces

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

tomatoes 92% (from puree), sugar (processing marker), onion 1.5%, garlic 1.5%, thickener (ultra-processing marker) (modified cornstarch (ultra-processing marker)), salt (processing marker), basil, food acid (citric), yeast extract, pepper, paprika, oregano, fennel

As written on the pack

tomatoes 92% (from puree), sugar, onion 1.5%, garlic 1.5%, thickener (modified cornstarch), salt, basil, food acid (citric), yeast extract, pepper, paprika, oregano, fennel.

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.

Thickener Thickeners, often gums or modified starches, make liquids more viscous so that a product feels richer than its ingredients alone would make it.
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.

3 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.

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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 9 bolognese-style vegetarian sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 6th. 67% of the bolognese-style vegetarian sauces 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 9 bolognese-style vegetarian sauces, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 9310012038771, last edited 7 June 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.