Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Healthy Choice Sweet & Sour Chicken ultra-processed?

10 oz Meals with chicken Sold in the United States

Pack of Healthy Choice Sweet & Sour 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:

  • 66 ingredients
  • 7 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed meals with chicken

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

cooked rice (water, white rice), chicken breast fritters (chicken (chicken breast, water, modified corn starch, salt, potassium chloride, potassium phosphate), batter (water, wheat flour, yellow corn flour, leavening (sodium bicarbonate), sodium aluminum phosphate, whey, salt, whole eggs, guar gum), predust (enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate (iron), thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), soybean oil, salt, natural flavor)), water, red and green bell peppers, sugar, onions, pineapple, pineapple juice concentrate, contains 2% and less of (rice vinegar), modified corn starch, soy sauce (water, wheat, soybeans, salt, alcohol, vinegar, lactic acid), garlic, tomato paste, salt, cooking wine (white wine, natural flavor, salt), ginger, canola oil, chili paste (red chili peppers, distilled vinegar, salt, xanthan gum), citric acid

Additives: E270 Lactic acid , E330 Citric acid , E412 Guar gum , E415 Xanthan gum , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate , E541 Sodium aluminium phosphate

As written on the pack

cooked rice (water, white rice), chicken breast fritters (cooked chicken [chicken breast, water, modified corn starch, salt, potassium chloride, potassium phosphate], batter [water, bleached wheat flour, yellow corn flour, leavening {sodium bicarbonate, sodium aluminum phosphate}, whey, salt, whole eggs, guar gum], predust [enriched wheat flour {wheat flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate (iron), thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid}, soybean oil, salt, natural flavor]), water, red and green bell peppers, sugar, onions, pineapple, pineapple juice concentrate, contains 2% or less of: rice vinegar, modified corn starch, soy sauce (water, wheat, soybeans, salt, alcohol, vinegar, lactic acid), garlic, tomato paste, salt, cooking wine (white wine, natural flavor, salt), ginger, canola oil, chili paste (red chili peppers, distilled vinegar, salt, xanthan gum), citric acid, contains: egg, milk, soy, wheat,

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.

  • E412 Guar gum Guar gum is a thickener ground from the seeds of the guar plant.
  • E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
  • 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.

  • 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.
6 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.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.
  • Sauce A prepared sauce used as an ingredient.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 213 meals with chicken

From least to most processed, this one ranks 193rd. 79% of the meals with chicken 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 213 meals with chicken, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0072655454415, last edited 21 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 C (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.