Is it ultra-processed?
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Is M&S Food Steak Pie ultra-processed?

500g Meat pies Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of M&S Food Steak Pie

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:

  • 31 ingredients
  • 4 additives
  • Nutri-Score D

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

British Beef 31%, Wheatflour, Water, Unsalted Butter, Onions 6%, Mushrooms, Smoked Bacon 4%, British Pork 86%, Water, Curing Salt (Salt, Preservative (Sodium Nitrite, Sodium Nitrate, Potassium Nitrate)), Sugar, Antioxidant (e301), Cornflour, Beef Dripping, Carrot Purée, Celery, Egg, Black Treacle, White Wine Vinegar, Salt, Yeast Extract, Garlic Purée, Thyme, Rapeseed Oil, Cracked Black Pepper

Additives: E250 Sodium nitrite , E251 Sodium nitrate , E252 Potassium nitrate , E301 Sodium ascorbate

As written on the pack

Cooked British Beef (31%), Wheatflour, Water, Unsalted Butter (Milk) (11%), Onions (6%), Mushrooms, Smoked Bacon (4%) (British Pork (86%), Water, Curing Salt (Salt, Preservative (Sodium Nitrite, Sodium Nitrate, Potassium Nitrate)), Sugar, Antioxidant (E301)), Cornflour, Beef Dripping, Carrot Purée, Celery, Pasteurised Egg, Black Treacle, White Wine Vinegar, Salt, Yeast Extract, Garlic Purée, Thyme, Rapeseed Oil, Cracked Black Pepper.

What makes it processed

Culinary ingredients

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

  • Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

Preservation and traditional processing

Keep food safe or ferment it, like preservatives and cultures. A sign of processing, not ultra-processing.

  • 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.
  • E251 Sodium 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.
  • 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.

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 38 meat pies

From least to most processed, this one ranks 10th. 71% of the meat pies 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 38 meat pies, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 29417797, last edited 6 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 D (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.