Is it ultra-processed?
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Is JOHN WEST Tuna light lunch ultra-processed?

220g Tunas Sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland

Pack of JOHN WEST Tuna light lunch

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:

  • 27 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score A

Less processed tunas

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

skipjack tuna 20%, potatoes 15%, sweetcorn 13%, onions, pasta 12% (water, wheat flour, egg white powder), green beans 8%, red peppers 8%, white wine vinegar, rapeseed oil, mustard (water, mustard, seeds, spirit vinegar, salt), water, modified maize starch, sugar, salt, thickener (guar gum), mustard, natural mustard flavouring, white pepper

Additives: E412 Guar gum

As written on the pack

skipjack tuna (20%), potatoes (15%), sweetcorn (13%), onions, pasta (12%) (water, wheat flour, egg white powder), green beans (8%), red peppers (8%), white wine vinegar, rapeseed oil, whole grain mustard (water, mustard, seeds, spirit vinegar, salt), water, modified maize starch, sugar, salt, thickener: guar gum, mustard flour, natural mustard flavouring, white pepper

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.
  • Thickener Thickeners, often gums or modified starches, make liquids more viscous so that a product feels richer than its ingredients alone would make it.
  • 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.
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 166 tunas

From least to most processed, this one ranks 158th. 23% of the tunas 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 166 tunas, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5000171050434, last edited 13 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 A (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.