Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Fray Bentos Just Chicken ultra-processed?

425g e Meat pies Sold in the United Kingdom and France

Pack of Fray Bentos Just Chicken

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:

  • 27 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed meat pies

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, Chicken 21%, Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Calcium Carbonate, Folic Acid, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Palm Oil, Modified Maize Starch, Rapeseed Oil, Salt, Chicken Stock (Water, Chicken, Chicken Fat, Salt), Tomato Paste, Maize Starch, Onion Powder, Barley Malt Extract, White Pepper, mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Sage, Flavouring

Additives: E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids

As written on the pack

Water, Chicken (21%), Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Calcium Carbonate, Folic Acid, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Palm Oil, Modified Maize Starch, Rapeseed Oil, Salt, Chicken Stock (Water, Chicken, Chicken Fat, Salt), Tomato Paste, Maize Starch, Onion Powder, Barley Malt Extract, White Pepper, Emulsifier (Mono - and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids), Sage, Flavouring.

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.

  • E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids are made from fats and glycerol.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • 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.

  • Gluten Wheat gluten, sold as "vital wheat gluten", is the protein washed out of wheat flour.
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.

  • 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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 38 meat pies

From least to most processed, this one ranks 28th. 71% of the meat pies 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 38 meat pies, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5012427049703, last edited 25 September 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.