Is Marks & Spencer M&S concentrated beef stock ultra-processed?

240g 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:

Vegetable fiber

13 ingredients
No additives
Nutri-Score B

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

beef extract (beef bones, beef, beef fat (beef)), water, chicory fibre (ultra-processing marker), yeast extract, salt (processing marker), sugar (processing marker), cornflour, onions, black pepper

As written on the pack

beef extract (beef bones, beef, beef fat (beef)), water, chicory fibre, yeast extract, salt, sugar, cornflour, concentrated onions, ground black pepper

What makes it ultra-processed

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.

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

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00163521, 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 B (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.