Is Pataks Madras Cooking Sauce ultra-processed?

450g Curry sauces Sold in the United Kingdom and France

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Modified starch

25 ingredients
1 additive
Nutri-Score C

Less processed curry 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

Water, Tomato 20%, Spices 5% (Spices, Coriander, Cumin, Turmeric, Chilli, Black Pepper), Modified Maize Starch (ultra-processing marker), Rapeseed Oil, Concentrated Tomato Purée 2%, Dried Onion, Sugar (processing marker), Garlic Purée, Salt (processing marker), Acid (Acetic Acid), Ginger, Yellow MUSTARD Powder, Cumin Seed, Black MUSTARD Seed, Red Chilli, Coriander Leaf, Curry

Additives: E260 Acetic acid

As written on the pack

Water, Tomato (20%), Spices (5%) (Spices, Coriander, Cumin, Turmeric, Chilli, Black Pepper), Modified Maize Starch, Rapeseed Oil, Concentrated Tomato Purée (2%), Dried Onion, Sugar, Garlic Purée, Salt, Acid (Acetic Acid), Ginger Purée, Yellow MUSTARD Powder, Cumin Seed, Black MUSTARD Seed, Dried Crushed Red Chilli, Dried Coriander Leaf, Dried Curry Leaf.

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.

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 89 curry sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 35th. 67% of the curry 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 89 curry sauces, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5011308505055, last edited 24 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 C (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.