Is it ultra-processed?
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Is New Covent Garden Soup Co Lentil & Smoked Bacon ultra-processed?

2 x 280 g Lentil soups Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of New Covent Garden Soup Co Lentil & Smoked 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:

  • 30 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score A

Less processed lentil soups

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

Water, red lentils 6%, carrot, smoked bacon 5% (pork, water, salt, dextrose, preservative (sodium nitrite)), green lentils 4.5%, onion, crushed tomato 3.5%, spinach, celery, cornflour, rapeseed oil, lemon juice, garlic puree, salt, thyme, English mustard (water, mustard flour, sea salt, turmeric, pimento), paprika, black pepper, bay leaf

Additives: E250 Sodium nitrite

As written on the pack

Water, red split lentils (6%), carrot, smoked bacon (5%) [pork, water, salt, dextrose, preservative (sodium nitrite)], green lentils (4.5%), onion, crushed tomato (3.5%), spinach, celery, cornflour, rapeseed oil, lemon juice, garlic puree, salt, thyme, English mustard [water, mustard flour, sea salt, turmeric, pimento], paprika, black pepper, ground bay leaf.

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.

  • 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.

  • 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.
  • Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.
  • Preservative Preservatives slow spoilage by microbes.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 23 lentil soups

From least to most processed, this one ranks 20th. 30% of the lentil soups 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 23 lentil soups, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5056053305864, last edited 16 July 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 A (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.