Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Marks & Spencers fish and chips ultra-processed?

310g Breaded fish Sold in the United Kingdom and France

Pack of Marks & Spencers fish and chips

Yes, it's ultra-processed

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

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

  • 25 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score B

Less processed breaded fish

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

Potatoes 50%, Cod (with Wheatflour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Rapeseed Oil, Sunflower Oil, Wheat Starch, Durum Wheat Semolina, Salt, Oatmeal, Rye Flour, Rice Flour, Yeast, Pea Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Potato Starch, Maize Starch, Rice Starch, Colour (Paprika Extract), Dextrose, Modified Maize Starch

Additives: E160c Paprika extract

As written on the pack

Potatoes (50%), Cod (Fish) (28%), Wheatflour contains Gluten (with Wheatflour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Rapeseed Oil, Sunflower Oil, Wheat Starch (contains Gluten), Durum Wheat Semolina (contains Gluten), Salt, Oatmeal (contains Gluten), Rye Flour (contains Gluten), Rice Flour, Yeast, Pea Flour, Malted Barley Flour (contains Gluten), Potato Starch, Maize Starch, Rice Starch, Colour: Paprika Extract, Dextrose, Modified Maize Starch

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.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
  • Modified starch Modified starch is starch altered physically, with enzymes or chemically, so that it thickens, gels or survives freezing and heating better than ordinary starch.

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.
4 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.

  • Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 163 breaded fish

From least to most processed, this one ranks 142nd. 77% of the breaded fish 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 163 breaded fish, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00461955, 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 B (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.