Is it ultra-processed?
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Is M&S Food Pasta & Meatballs ultra-processed?

400 g Pasta dishes Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of M&S Food Pasta & Meatballs

It's processed, but not ultra-processed

  1. 1 Unprocessed
  2. 2 Kitchen staple
  3. 3 Processed
  4. 4 Ultra-processed

Whole foods combined with:

  • 52 ingredients
  • No additives
  • Nutri-Score A

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

Cooked pasta (water, yellow pea, durum wheat semolina, yellow pea protein isolate), beef, pork meatballs (beef, pork, onions), water, wheat flour, salt, dried garlic, herbs (basil, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon, thyme), spices (aniseed, black pepper, fennel, red chili peppers), yeast, red peppers, tomatoes, tomato paste, spinach, red peppers, roast beef stock (water, beef bones, beef, yeast extract, salt), honey, rapeseed oil, garlic purée, cornflour, smoked paprika, beef dripping, red chillies, basil, reduced sodium salt, sherry vinegar, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, guajillo chili

As written on the pack

Cooked pasta (water, yellow pea flour, durum wheat semolina, yellow pea protein isolate), beef and pork meatballs (beef, pork, onions), water, wheat flour, salt, dried garlic, dried herbs (basil, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon, thyme), ground spices (aniseed, black pepper, fennel, red chili peppers), yeast, dried red peppers, tomatoes, tomato paste, spinach, red peppers, roast beef stock (water, beef bones, beef, yeast extract, salt), honey, rapeseed oil, garlic purée, cornflour, ground smoked paprika, beef dripping, red chillies, basil, reduced sodium salt, sherry vinegar, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, guajillo chili flakes.

What makes it processed

Culinary ingredients

Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.

  • Honey Honey, used as a sweetener.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.

Category rules

Open Food Facts puts every product in this category in at least this group.

  • Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 544 pasta dishes

From least to most processed, this one ranks 113th. 72% of the pasta dishes 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 544 pasta dishes, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 29388646, last edited 27 July 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 A (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.