Is Food Life Balanced Chili with Beans ready to eat ultra-processed?

425g Stews Sold in the United States

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Modified starch
E150c Ammonia caramel

23 ingredients
1 additive
Nutri-Score A

Less processed stews

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

water, seasoned beef crumbles (beef, water, soy flour, salt (processing marker), caramel color), pinto beans, kidney beans, tomato paste, modified food starch (ultra-processing marker), contains 2% and less of (chil powder, chili pepper, other spices), salt (processing marker), garlic, silicon dioxide) onion, whole grain oats, brown sugar (processing marker) (cane sugar, cane syrup), garlic powder spice

Additives: E150c Ammonia caramel

Also detected, but not matched to one ingredient: E150c Ammonia caramel.

As written on the pack

water, seasoned beef crumbles (beef, water, textured soy flour, salt, caramel color), pinto beans, kidney beans, tomato paste, modified food starch, contains 2% or less of: chil powder (chili pepper and other spices, salt, dehydrated garlic, silicon dioxide) onion, whole grain oats, brown sugar (cane sugar, cane syrup), garlic powder spice, contains: soy

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.
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.

4 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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 33 stews

From least to most processed, this one ranks 19th. 73% of the stews 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 33 stews, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0810085410249, last edited 25 September 2024), 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.