Is Marks & Spencer Beef StockPot ultra-processed?

96g (4 x 24g) Broth stock 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:

Dextrose
Flavouring
Glucose
Vegetable fiber
E417 Tara gum

20 ingredients
1 additive

Less processed broth stock

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

Water, Yeast Extract, Flavouring (ultra-processing marker), Salt (processing marker), Sugar (processing marker), Dextrose (ultra-processing marker), Beef Stock (Water, Beef Bones, Salt (processing marker), Beef), Onions, Beef Fat, Stabiliser (e417 (ultra-processing marker)), Chicory Fibre (ultra-processing marker), Cornflour, Black Pepper, Onion, Bay Leaves

Additives: E417 Tara gum

As written on the pack

Water, Yeast Extract, Flavouring, Salt, Sugar, Dried Dextrose, Beef Stock (Water, Beef Bones, Salt, Beef), Concentrated Onions, Beef Fat, Stabiliser: E417, Chicory Fibre, Cornflour, Ground Black Pepper, Concentrated Onion Juice, Ground Bay Leaves.

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.

E417 Tara gum Stabilisers are substances which make it possible to maintain the physico-chemical state of a foodstuff; stabilisers include substances which enable the maintenance of a homogenous dispersion of two or more immiscible substances in a foodstuff, substances which stabilise, retain or intensify an existing colour of a foodstuff and substances which increase the binding capacity of the food, including the formation of cross-links between proteins enabling the binding of food pieces into re-constituted 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.
Vegetable fiber Isolated plant fibres, such as inulin, oat fibre or bamboo fibre, are extracted industrially and added to change texture or support "source of fibre" claims.

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 24 broth stock

From least to most processed, this one ranks 23rd. 50% of the broth stock 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 24 broth stock, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 29156269, 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.
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.