Is it ultra-processed?
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Is MasterFoods Barbecue Sauce ultra-processed?

500 mL Barbecue sauces Sold in Australia

Pack of MasterFoods Barbecue Sauce

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:

  • 22 ingredients
  • 5 additives
  • Nutri-Score D

Less processed barbecue sauces

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

Tomatoes 43% (from Paste), Sugar, Water, Comflour (Wheat), Acidity Regulators (Acetic Acid, Citric Acid), Salt, Glucose Syrup, Colour (Caramel (150c)), Thickener (Pectin), Spices Cove, Nutmeg, Pepper, Tamarind Paste, Yeast Extract, Onion 0.1%

Additives: E150 Caramel , E150c Ammonia caramel , E260 Acetic acid , E330 Citric acid , E440 Pectins

Also detected, but not matched to one ingredient: E150c Ammonia caramel.

As written on the pack

Tomatoes (from Paste) 43%, Sugar, Water, Comflour (Wheat), Acidity Regulators (Acetic Acid, Citric Acid), Salt, Glucose Syrup, Colour (Caramel (150c)), Thickener (Pectin), Spices Cove, Nutmeg, Pepper), Tamarind Paste, Yeast Extract, Onion 0.1%

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.

  • E150 Caramel A food additive authorised for industrial food production.
  • E150c Ammonia caramel Ammonia caramel is a brown colour made by heating sugars with ammonia compounds.
  • E440 Pectins Pectins are gelling agents extracted from citrus peel or apple pomace.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
  • Thickener Thickeners, often gums or modified starches, make liquids more viscous so that a product feels richer than its ingredients alone would make it.

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.

  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • Glucose syrup Glucose syrup is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
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 107 barbecue sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 103rd. 86% of the barbecue sauces 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 107 barbecue sauces, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 9310012021063, 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.