Is Heinz Big Red Condensed Tomato Soup ultra-processed?

Canned soups Sold in Australia

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Colour
Flavouring
E160c Paprika extract

10 ingredients
3 additives
Nutri-Score A

Less processed canned soups

Stock Powder beef Massel 9 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 3
Protein Power Soup Garden Pea & Spinach BOL 18 ingredients · 2 additives NOVA group 3
Mixed Vegetable and Lentil Soup Baxters 22 ingredients · 1 additive NOVA group 3
Chunky Chicken Vegetable & Grain Broth Marks & Spencers 17 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 3

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

tomatoes 90%, sugar (processing marker), tapioca starch (processing marker), salt (processing marker), adifty regulator (sodium bicarbonate), natural flavours (ultra-processing marker), natural colour (ultra-processing marker) (paprika extract (ultra-processing marker)), spice

Additives: E160c Paprika extract , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

concentrated tomatoes (90%), sugar, tapioca starch, salt, adifty regulator (sodium bicarbonate), natural flavours, natural colour (paprika extract), spice,

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.

E160c Paprika extract Paprika extract is a red-orange colour extracted from paprika peppers.
Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.

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.

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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 190 canned soups

From least to most processed, this one ranks 134th. 68% of the canned soups 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 190 canned soups, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 9300657005009, last edited 22 July 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 A (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.