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Is Lean Cuisine Signature Swedish Meatballs with pasta in gravy ultra-processed?

258g Meals with meat Sold in the United States

Pack of Lean Cuisine Signature Swedish Meatballs with pasta in gravy

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:

  • 53 ingredients
  • 5 additives
  • Nutri-Score B

Less processed meals with meat

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

Sauce, meatballs (water), skim milk, cooked beef, pork, onions, modified food starch, soy protein, rolled oats, sour cream (cultured cream, skim milk, enzymes), salt, wheat flour, maltodextrin, dried onions, caramel color, flavors, autolyzed yeast extract, potassium chloride, garlic, sugar, spices, soy sauce (soybean, wheat, salt), xanthan gum, dried garlic, mushrooms, soybean oil, safflower oil, beef broth, enzyme modified cream, lactic acid, whey, ascorbic acid, citric acid, glucose, vegetable oil, beef extract, beef fat, natural flavors, tapioca dextrin, thiamine hydrochloride, cooked pasta (water), semolina, soybean oil, wheat gluten, parsley

Additives: E1400 Dextrin , E150c Ammonia caramel , E270 Lactic acid , E330 Citric acid , E415 Xanthan gum

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

As written on the pack

Sauce and cooked meatballs: water, skim milk, cooked beef, cooked pork, onions, modified food starch, soy protein concentrate, rolled oats, sour cream (cultured cream, skim milk, enzymes), salt, bleached wheat flour, maltodextrin, dried onions, caramel color, flavors, autolyzed yeast extract, potassium chloride, garlic, sugar, spices, soy sauce (soybean, wheat, salt), xanthan gum, dried garlic, mushrooms, soybean oil, safflower oil, beef broth, enzyme modified cream, lactic acid, cultured whey, ascorbic acid, citric acid, glucose, vegetable oil, beef extract, beef fat, natural flavors, tapioca dextrin, thiamine hydrochloride. cooked pasta:water, semolina, soybean oil, wheat gluten, parsley.

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.

  • E1400 Dextrin Dextrin is starch partly broken down by heat or acid, used as a thickener, binder and coating.
  • E150c Ammonia caramel Ammonia caramel is a brown colour made by heating sugars with ammonia compounds.
  • E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • 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.

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.

  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • Gluten Wheat gluten, sold as "vital wheat gluten", is the protein washed out of wheat flour.
  • Maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a white powder made by partly breaking down starch.
  • Whey Whey is the liquid left over from cheese making, usually dried into a powder and used as a cheap source of milk solids, protein and lactose.
6 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.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.
  • Sauce A prepared sauce used as an ingredient.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 482 meals with meat

From least to most processed, this one ranks 476th. 77% of the meals with meat 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 482 meals with meat, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0013800188076, last edited 5 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 B (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.