Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Four Seasons Salt & Pepper Fries ultra-processed?

800 g Frozen fried potatoes Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Four Seasons Salt & Pepper Fries

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:

  • 20 ingredients
  • 7 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed frozen fried potatoes

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 89%, sunflower oil 4%, modified potato starch, rice flour, salt, black pepper, potato dextrin, maltodextrin, onion, parsley, raising agents (disodium diphosphate), sodium carbonates, colours (turmeric extract), paprika extract, thickener (xanthan gum), 800ge warning to avoid danger of suffocation, keep this wrapper away from babies and small children

Additives: E100 Curcumin , E1400 Dextrin , E160c Paprika extract , E415 Xanthan gum , E450 Diphosphates , E450i Disodium diphosphate , E500 Sodium carbonates

As written on the pack

potato (89%), sunflower oil (4%), modified potato starch, rice flour, salt, black pepper, potato dextrin, maltodextrin, onion powder, parsley, raising agents: disodium diphosphate, sodium carbonates, colours: turmeric extract, paprika extract, thickener: xanthan gum, dietary advice: suitable for vegans, 800ge warning to avoid danger of suffocation, keep this wrapper away from babies and small children,

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.

  • E100 Curcumin 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.
  • E1400 Dextrin Dextrin is starch partly broken down by heat or acid, used as a thickener, binder and coating.
  • E160c Paprika extract Paprika extract is a red-orange colour extracted from paprika peppers.
  • E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
  • E450 Diphosphates Diphosphates are phosphate salts used as raising agents in baking powder, and to hold water in processed meats and cheese.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
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  • 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.

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.

  • Maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a white powder made by partly breaking down 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.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 104 frozen fried potatoes

From least to most processed, this one ranks 103rd. 80% of the frozen fried potatoes 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 104 frozen fried potatoes, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 4088600396682, last edited 7 May 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 C (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.