Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Ocean Sea Spinach & Cheddar Cheese Cod Fillets ultra-processed?

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Pack of Ocean Sea Spinach & Cheddar Cheese Cod Fillets

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:

  • 36 ingredients
  • 4 additives
  • Nutri-Score A

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

TO AN 50% Cod, Cheddar Cheese Sauce 33%, Skimmed Milk, Cheddar Cheese 14%, Stabilised Single Cream (Single Cream, Stabiliser (Carrageenan)), Butter, Modified Waxy Maize Starch, Onion, Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Salt, Sugar, Flavouring, White Pepper, Colour (Carotenes), Spinach 11%, Cheddar Cheese Crumble 6% (Breadcrumbs 50% (Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonates, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Salt, Yeast), Cheddar Cheese 40%, Rapeseed Oil)

Additives: E160a Carotene , E170 Calcium carbonates , E170i Calcium carbonate , E407 Carrageenan

As written on the pack

TO AN 50% Cod (Fish), 33% Cheddar Cheese Sauce (Reconstituted Skimmed Milk, 14% Cheddar Cheese (Milk), Stabilised Single Cream (Single Cream (Milk), Stabiliser: Carrageenan), Butter (Milk), Modified Waxy Maize Starch, Diced Onion, Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin], Salt, Sugar, Flavouring (contains Milk), Ground White Pepper, Colour: Carotenes), 11% Spinach, 6% Cheddar Cheese Crumble (50% Breadcrumbs [Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonates, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Salt, Yeast], 40% Cheddar Cheese (Milk), Rapeseed Oil).

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.

  • E160a Carotene Carotenes are orange-yellow pigments, either synthesised or extracted from carrots, algae or palm oil.
  • E170 Calcium carbonates Calcium carbonate is chalk.
  • E407 Carrageenan Carrageenan is a thickener and gelling agent extracted from red seaweed, used widely in dairy desserts, plant-based drinks and processed meats.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • 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.
5 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.

  • 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.
  • Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

How the NOVA groups work

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 20801861, last edited 15 March 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.