Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Four Seasons Gourmet Foods Cheesy Hash Browns ultra-processed?

600g Hash Browns Sold in the United Kingdom and Albania

Pack of Four Seasons Gourmet Foods Cheesy Hash Browns

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:

  • 22 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score B

Less processed hash Browns

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

potato 66%, rapeseed oil, red cheddar cheese 5.5% (milk, colour (annatto bixin)), cream cheese (cream cheese, salt), water, potato flake, potato starch, potato fibre, dextrose, salt, egg white powder, modified maize starch, onion, stabiliser (methyl cellulose), garlic, turmeric

Additives: E160b Annatto , E160bi Annatto bixin , E461 Methyl cellulose

As written on the pack

potato (66%), rapeseed oil, red cheddar cheese (5,5%) (milk, colour: annatto bixin), cream cheese (milk) (cream cheese (milk), salt) water, potato flake, potato starch, potato fibre, dextrose, salt, egg white powder, modified maize starch, onion granules, stabiliser: methyl cellulose, garlic granules, turmeric,

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.

  • E160b Annatto Colours are substances which add or restore colour in a food, and include natural constituents of foods and natural sources which are normally not consumed as foods as such and not normally used as characteristic ingredients of food.
  • E461 Methyl cellulose Emulsifiers are substances which make it possible to form or maintain a homogenous mixture of two or more immiscible phases such as oil and water in a foodstuff.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
  • 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.
  • 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.
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.
  • Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 12 hash Browns

From least to most processed, this one ranks 12th. 83% of the hash Browns 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 12 hash Browns, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 4088600398273, 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.