Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Lidl Balti 2 Step Cooking Sauce ultra-processed?

360 g Cooking Sauces Sold in the United Kingdom

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:

  • 61 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed cooking 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

A tomato, onion sauce with a blend of spices Ingredients 97% Sauce (Water), Tomato 22%, Onion 15%, Rapeseed Oil, Tomato Paste, Sugar, Modified Maize Starch, Ginger, Garlic Purée, Garam Masala (Coriander, Cumin, Cassia, Black Pepper, Star Anise, Ginger, Green Cardamom, Pimenta Black Cardamom, Cloves, Bay Leaves), Coriander Leaf, Cumin, Paprika Powder, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Chilli, Green Cardamom, Fenugreek, Colour (Plain Caramel), Salt, Acidity Regulator (Citric Acid, Spice Cap), Salt, Coriander, Sugar, Tomato Powder Turmeric, Onion, Dextrose, Flavouring, Rice Flour, Garlic, Colour (Curcumin), Chilli Powder Cumin, Ginger, Cayenne, Cassia, Cloves, Black Pepper, Fennel, Fenugreek, Bay Leaf, Mango Powder Cinnamon, Oregano, Cardamom, Nutmeg, Mutrition Information Tynical values per (Energy 27)

Additives: E100 Curcumin , E150a Plain caramel , E330 Citric acid

As written on the pack

A tomato and onion sauce with a blend of spices Ingredients 97% Sauce: Water, 22% Tomato, 15% Onion, Rapeseed Oil, Tomato Paste, Sugar, Modified Maize Starch, Ginger Purée, Garlic Purée, Garam Masala Powder (Coriander, Cumin, Cassia, Black Pepper, Star Anise, Ginger, Green Cardamom, Pimenta Black Cardamom, Cloves, Bay Leaves), Coriander Leaf, Cumin Powder, Paprika Powder, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Chilli Powder, Green Cardamom Powder, Fenugreek Powder, Colour: Plain Caramel; Salt, Acidity Regulator: Citric Acid. 3% Spice Cap: Salt, Coriander, Sugar, Tomato Powder Turmeric, Onion Powder, Dextrose, Flavouring, Rice Flour, Garlic Powder, Colour: Curcumin; Chilli Powder Cumin, Ginger, Cayenne Powder, Cassia, Cloves, Black Pepper, Fennel, Fenugreek, Bay Leaf, Mango Powder Cinnamon, Oregano, Cardamom, Nutmeg. Allergy Advice May contain Nuts, Peanuts and Sesame Mutrition Information Tynical values per 100g: Energy 27

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.

  • E100 Curcumin Colours are substances which add or restore colour in a food, and include natural constituents of foods and natural sources which are normally not consumed as foods as such and not normally used as characteristic ingredients of food.
  • E150a Plain caramel Plain caramel is a brown colour made by heating sugars.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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 36 cooking Sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 36th. 67% of the cooking 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 36 cooking Sauces, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 4056489895602, 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.
  • 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.