Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Heinz 57 sauce ultra-processed?

284g Hot sauces Sold in the United States, France and Germany

Pack of Heinz 57 sauce

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:

  • 22 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score D

Less processed hot sauces

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

tomato puree (water, tomato paste), high fructose corn syrup, distilled white vinegar, malt vinegar, salt, contains less than 2% of the following (modified food starch), raisin juice concentrate, mustard, soybean oil, turmeric, spices, apple puree, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate (preservatives), caramel color, garlic, onion, natural flavors

Additives: E150c Ammonia caramel , E202 Potassium sorbate , E211 Sodium benzoate

Also detected, but not matched to one ingredient: E150c Ammonia caramel.

As written on the pack

tomato puree (water, tomato paste), high fructose corn syrup, distilled white vinegar, malt vinegar (contains barley), salt, contains less than 2% of the following: modified food starch, raisin juice concentrate, mustard flour, soybean oil, turmeric, spices, apple puree, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservatives), caramel color, garlic powder, onion powder, natural flavors.

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.

  • E150c Ammonia caramel Ammonia caramel is a brown colour made by heating sugars with ammonia compounds.
  • 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.

  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • High fructose corn syrup High-fructose corn syrup is made from corn starch: enzymes break it down to glucose and convert part of that into fructose, giving a syrup about as sweet as table sugar.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
5 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.

  • E202 Potassium sorbate Preservatives are substances which prolong the shelf-life of foods by protecting them against deterioration caused by micro-organisms and/or which protect against growth of pathogenic micro-organisms.
  • Preservative Preservatives slow spoilage by microbes.
  • 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 184 hot sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 177th. 70% of the hot sauces 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 184 hot sauces, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 01326406, last edited 1 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.