Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Lidl Italian Antipasto Selection ultra-processed?

Sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland

Pack of Lidl Italian Antipasto Selection

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:

  • 30 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

prosciutto, ham, 9 months matured (pork), salt, salami milano, air dried (pork), salt, dextrose, spices, natural flavourings, antioxidant (sodium ascorbate), preservatives (sodium nitrite), potassium nitrate, salami napoli, air dried (pork), salt, natural flavourings, dextrose, spices, smoke flavouring, antioxidant (sodium ascorbate), preservatives (sodium nitrite), potassium nitrate

Additives: E250 Sodium nitrite , E252 Potassium nitrate , E301 Sodium ascorbate

As written on the pack

prosciutto, air dried cured ham, 9 months matured: pork, salt, made with 148g of pork per 100g of finished product, salami milano, air dried: pork, salt, dextrose, spices, natural flavourings, antioxidant: sodium ascorbate, preservatives: sodium nitrite, potassium nitrate, made with 130g of pork per 100g of finished product, salami napoli, air dried: pork, salt, natural flavourings, dextrose, spices, smoke flavouring, antioxidant: sodium ascorbate, preservatives: sodium nitrite, potassium nitrate, made with 145g of pork per 100g of finished product,

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.

  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.

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.
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.

  • 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.
  • E252 Potassium nitrate 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.
  • Preservative Preservatives slow spoilage by microbes.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.

How the NOVA groups work

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 4056489737551, 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 E (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.