Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Just Essentials by Asda Brown sauce ultra-processed?

460 g Brown sauces Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Just Essentials by Asda Brown 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:

  • 17 ingredients
  • 2 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed brown 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

water, tomato paste, cane molasses, modified maize starch, cane sugar, acidity regulator (acetic acid), salt, spices (clove, garlic, black pepper, nutmeg, ginger powder), flavouring, sweetener (sucralose)

Additives: E260 Acetic acid , E955 Sucralose

As written on the pack

water. tomato paste, cane molasses, modified maize starch, cane sugar. acidity regulator (acetic acid), salt, spices [clove powder, garlic powder, black pepper, nutmeg, ginger powder], flavouring, sweetener (sucralose). no artificial colours and flavours.

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.

  • E955 Sucralose Sucralose is a sweetener made by chlorinating sugar.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • Sweetener Sweeteners give sweetness with few or no calories, many at hundreds of times the strength of sugar.
  • 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.
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.

  • 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 19 brown sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 19th. 89% of the brown 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 19 brown sauces, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5057172338092, last edited 27 March 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 C (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.