Is Lidl Sweet and Sour Cooking Sauce ultra-processed?

500g Sweet and sour sauces Sold in the United Kingdom

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Corn
E160c Paprika extract

20 ingredients
1 additive
Nutri-Score C

Less processed sweet and sour 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

?, sugar (processing marker), tomato purée 13%, onions 10%, pineapple 6% (pineapple, pineapple juice), pineapple juice from concentrate, carrots 4%, spirit vinegar, maize ? (ultra-processing marker), red peppers 3%, celery 3%, green peppers 3%, bamboo shoots 1%, salt (processing marker), ? purée, tamarind, paprika extract (ultra-processing marker), black pepper

Additives: E160c Paprika extract

As written on the pack

? , sugar, 13% tomato purée from concentrate, 10% onions, 6% pineapple (pineapple, pineapple juice), pineapple juice from concentrate, 4% carrots, spirit vinegar, modified maize ?, 3% red peppers, 3% celery , 3% green peppers, 1% bamboo shoots, salt, ? purée, tamarind concentrate, colour: paprika extract, black 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.

E160c Paprika extract Paprika extract is a red-orange colour extracted from paprika peppers.

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.

Corn An ingredient mostly produced industrially and rarely used in home kitchens.

2 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.
Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 17 sweet and sour sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 7th. 88% of the sweet and sour 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 17 sweet and sour sauces, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 20889258, last edited 4 September 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.