Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Gorton's Fish Sticks ultra-processed?

Fish fingers Sold in the United States

Pack of Gorton's Fish Sticks

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:

  • 29 ingredients
  • 6 additives
  • Nutri-Score D

Less processed fish fingers

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

alaska pollock, wheat flour (flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), vegetable oil (cottonseed, soybean, canola), water, yellow corn flour, less than 2% of (sugar), dextrose, salt, whey, baking powder (baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate), yeast, onion, natural flavor, sodium tripolyphosphate (to retain fish moisture), tbhq (to protect flavor)

Additives: E319 Tertiary-butylhydroquinone (tbhq) , E452 Polyphosphates , E452vi Sodium tripolyphosphate , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate , E541 Sodium aluminium phosphate

As written on the pack

Minced alaska pollock, enriched bleached wheat flour (flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), vegetable oil (cottonseed, soybean and/or canola), water, yellow corn flour, less than 2% of: sugar, dextrose, salt, whey, baking powder (baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate), yeast, onion powder, natural flavor, sodium tripolyphosphate (to retain fish moisture), tbhq (to protect flavor).

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.

  • E452 Polyphosphates 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.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.

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.
  • Whey Whey is the liquid left over from cheese making, usually dried into a powder and used as a cheap source of milk solids, protein and lactose.
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.

  • Preservative Preservatives slow spoilage by microbes.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 63 fish fingers

From least to most processed, this one ranks 61st. 63% of the fish fingers 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 63 fish fingers, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0044400156509, last edited 29 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 D (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.