Is Podravka Chicken Noodle Soup ultra-processed?

1 l Dried meals Sold in Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and 4 more countries

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

E150a Plain caramel
E621 Monosodium glutamate
E631 Disodium inosinate

18 ingredients
3 additives
Nutri-Score C

Less processed dried meals

Sun-Dried Tomatoes with sea salt Italiamo 5 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 3
Rice noodles chick-n ramen Itsu 25 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 3
Brown rice miso soup paste Clearspring 20 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 3
Japanese Mellow White Miso Instant Soup 4 x (40g) Clearspring 12 ingredients · no additives NOVA group 3

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

Noodles 65% (durum wheat semolina, eggs), cooking salt (processing marker), palm fat, monosodium glutamate (ultra-processing marker), disodium inosinate (ultra-processing marker), dried vegetables (carrots, onions, celery), chicken 2%, corn starch (processing marker), sugar (processing marker), chicken fat, spices, plain caramel (ultra-processing marker), parsley

Additives: E150a Plain caramel , E621 Monosodium glutamate , E631 Disodium inosinate

As written on the pack

Noodles 65% (durum wheat semolina, eggs), cooking salt, palm fat, flavour enhancers (monosodium glutamate, disodium inosinate), dried vegetables (carrots, onions, celery), dried chicken extract 2%, corn starch, sugar, chicken fat, spices, colour (plain caramel), parsley 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.

E150a Plain caramel Plain caramel is a brown colour made by heating sugars.
E621 Monosodium glutamate Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, made by fermentation and used to strengthen savoury taste.
E631 Disodium inosinate Disodium inosinate is a flavour enhancer usually used together with MSG.

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.

Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.
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 82 dried meals

From least to most processed, this one ranks 22nd. 88% of the dried meals 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 82 dried meals, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 3850104003189, last edited 4 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 C (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.