Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Marks & Spencers Roast Chicken & Bacon ultra-processed?

200g Meals with chicken Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Marks & Spencers Roast Chicken & Bacon

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:

  • 53 ingredients
  • 6 additives
  • Nutri-Score B

Less processed meals with chicken

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

Roast Chicken Breast 25% (with Wheatflour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Water, Smoked British Bacon 11% (Pork Belly (made with 185g of Raw Pork per 100g of Cooked Bacon), Curing Salt (Salt, Sodium Nitrate, Sodium Nitrite), Sugar, Natural Flavouring, e301), Rapeseed Oil, Malted Wheatflakes, Butter, Wheat Bran, Chicken Stock (Water, Chicken Bones, Seaweed, Yeast Extract, Shiitake Mushrooms, Chicken Skin, Salt, Sugar), Cornflour, Salt, Pasteurised Egg Yolk, Yeast (Yeast, Vitamin D Yeast), Malted Barley Flour, Vinegar, Palm Oil, Egg, e471, e472e, Cracked Black Pepper, Malted Wheatflour, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Wheatflour, Potato Starch, Wheat Gluten, Sugar, Mustard Seeds, Mustard, Ascorbic Acid, Palm Fat

Additives: E250 Sodium nitrite , E251 Sodium nitrate , E300 Ascorbic acid , E301 Sodium ascorbate , E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids , E472e Mono- and diacetyltartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids

As written on the pack

Roast Chicken Breast (25%), Wheatflour contains Gluten (with Wheatflour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Water, Smoked British Bacon (11%) (Pork Belly (made with 185g of Raw Pork per 100g of Cooked Bacon), Curing Salt (Salt, Preservative: Sodium Nitrate, Sodium Nitrite), Sugar, Natural Flavouring, Antioxidant: E301), Rapeseed Oil, Malted Wheatflakes (contain Gluten), Butter (Milk), Wheat Bran (contains Gluten), Chicken Stock (Water, Chicken Bones, Seaweed, Yeast Extract, Shiitake Mushrooms, Chicken Skin, Salt, Sugar), Cornflour, Salt, Pasteurised Egg Yolk, Yeast (Yeast, Vitamin D Yeast), Malted Barley Flour (contains Gluten), Vinegar, Palm Oil, Pasteurised Egg, Emulsifier: E471, E472e, Cracked Black Pepper, Malted Wheatflour (contains Gluten), Concentrated Lemon Juice, Dried Fermented Wheatflour (contains Gluten), Potato Starch, Wheat Gluten, Sugar, Mustard Seeds, Dried Mustard, Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid, Palm Fat.

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.

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.

  • Gluten Wheat gluten, sold as "vital wheat gluten", is the protein washed out of wheat flour.
8 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.

  • 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.
  • Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.
  • Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Sandwiches Products in the category "Sandwiches" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 213 meals with chicken

From least to most processed, this one ranks 180th. 79% of the meals with chicken 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 213 meals with chicken, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00301350, last edited 19 September 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.