Is Mrs H.s. Ball's Original Recipe Chutney Blatjang ultra-processed?

470g Fruit chutneys Sold in the United Kingdom, Australia and 5 more countries

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Modified starch
E150c Ammonia caramel

11 ingredients
2 additives
Nutri-Score D

Less processed fruit chutneys

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

Sugar (processing marker), water, vinegar, dried fruit (peaches 6.9%, apricot 0.95%), sulphur dioxide, modified maize starch (ultra-processing marker), salt (processing marker), caramel colouring, chilli

Additives: E150c Ammonia caramel , E220 Sulphur dioxide

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

As written on the pack

Sugar, water, vinegar, dried fruit (peaches (6.9%), apricot/0.95%) sulphur dioxide)], modified maize starch, salt, caramel colouring, chilli (irradiated).

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.

E150c Ammonia caramel Ammonia caramel is a brown colour made by heating sugars with ammonia compounds.
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.

3 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.
Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 31 fruit chutneys

From least to most processed, this one ranks 28th. 29% of the fruit chutneys 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 31 fruit chutneys, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 6001092500052, last edited 15 May 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.