Is Freshona Sliced Gherkins ultra-processed?

580g Pickled gherkins 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:

Colour
E101 Riboflavin

9 ingredients
2 additives
Nutri-Score B

Less processed pickled gherkins

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

Gherkins, Water, Sugar (processing marker), Spirit Vinegar, Salt (processing marker), Mustard Seeds, Spice extract, Colour (ultra-processing marker) (riboflavins (ultra-processing marker))

Additives: E101 Riboflavin , E101i Riboflavin

As written on the pack

Gherkins, Water, Sugar, Spirit Vinegar, Salt, Mustard Seeds, Spice extract, Colour: riboflavins

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.

E101 Riboflavin 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.
Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.

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.
Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 25 pickled gherkins

From least to most processed, this one ranks 21st. 56% of the pickled gherkins 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 25 pickled gherkins, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 40891729, last edited 7 June 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.