Is Everyday Essentials Chicken Breast Fillets ultra-processed?

Chicken breasts Sold in the United Kingdom

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Dextrose
Glucose
Vegetable fiber
E415 Xanthan gum

12 ingredients
3 additives
Nutri-Score A

Less processed chicken breasts

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

Chicken Breast Fillet 82%, Water, Acidity Regulators (Sodium Carbonates), Sodium Citrates, Salt (processing marker), Dextrose (ultra-processing marker), Pea Starch (processing marker), Pea Fibre (ultra-processing marker), Rice Starch (processing marker), Stabiliser (Xanthan Gum (ultra-processing marker))

Additives: E331 Sodium citrates , E415 Xanthan gum , E500 Sodium carbonates

As written on the pack

Chicken Breast Fillet (82%), Water, Acidity Regulators: Sodium Carbonates, Sodium Citrates; Salt, Dextrose, Pea Starch, Pea Fibre, Rice Starch, Stabiliser: Xanthan Gum.

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.

E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.

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.
Vegetable fiber Isolated plant fibres, such as inulin, oat fibre or bamboo fibre, are extracted industrially and added to change texture or support "source of fibre" claims.

2 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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 83 chicken breasts

From least to most processed, this one ranks 75th. 65% of the chicken breasts 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 83 chicken breasts, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 4088600309064, last edited 11 April 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.