Is Hillshire Farm Black Forest Ham ultra-processed?

16 oz Prepared meats Sold in the United States

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Dextrose
Glucose
E150c Ammonia caramel

10 ingredients
4 additives
Nutri-Score D

Less processed prepared meats

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

Cured with (water), and 2% and less (salt (processing marker)), dextrose (ultra-processing marker), sodium phosphate, sodium propionate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite (processing marker), caramel color

Additives: E150c Ammonia caramel , E250 Sodium nitrite , E281 Sodium propionate , E316 Sodium erythorbate

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

As written on the pack

Cured with: water, and 2% or less: salt, dextrose, sodium phosphate, sodium propionate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite, caramel color.

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.

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.

3 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.
Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 882 prepared meats

From least to most processed, this one ranks 629th. 73% of the prepared meats 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 882 prepared meats, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0044500201482, last edited 21 April 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.