Is Hillshire Farm Beef Polska Kielbasa ultra-processed?
Yes, it's ultra-processed
- 1 Unprocessed
- 2 Kitchen staple
- 3 Processed
- 4 Ultra-processed
Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:
- 14 ingredients
- 3 additives
- Nutri-Score E
Less processed sausages
Ingredients
Ultra-processing Processing
beef, water, corn syrup (ultra-processing marker), salt (processing marker), natural flavors (ultra-processing marker), oat fiber (ultra-processing marker), dextrose (ultra-processing marker), sodium phosphate, beef collagen, monosodium glutamate (ultra-processing marker), sodium erythorbate, yeast extract, sodium nitrite (processing marker), beef collagen casing
Additives: E250 Sodium nitrite , E316 Sodium erythorbate , E621 Monosodium glutamate
As written on the pack
beef, water, corn syrup, salt, natural flavors, oat fiber, dextrose, sodium phosphate, beef collagen, monosodium glutamate, sodium erythorbate, yeast extract, sodium nitrite, beef collagen casing
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.
- E621 Monosodium glutamate Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, made by fermentation and used to strengthen savoury taste.
- 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.
- Vegetable fiber Isolated plant fibres, such as inulin, oat fibre or bamboo fibre, are extracted industrially and added to change texture or support "source of fibre" claims.
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.
- E250 Sodium nitrite 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.
- Prepared meats Products in the category "Prepared meats" are at least group 3.
- Sausages Products in the category "Sausages" are at least group 3.
- Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
Among 337 sausages
From least to most processed, this one ranks 266th. 80% of the sausages here are ultra-processed.
About this information
- Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0044500339048, last edited 22 May 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 E (from A, best, to E).
- General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.