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Is Prego Flavored with Meat Italian Sauce ultra-processed?

24 oz Pasta sauces Sold in the United States and France

Pack of Prego Flavored with Meat Italian Sauce

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:

  • 20 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed pasta 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

tomato puree (water, tomato paste), diced tomatoes in tomato juice, sugar, beef, canola oil, contains less than 1% of (salt), spices, citric acid, dehydrated onions, garlic, beef fat, flavoring, dehydrated beef stock, onion extract, garlic extract, beef extract, yeast extract

Additives: E330 Citric acid

As written on the pack

tomato puree (water, tomato paste), diced tomatoes in tomato juice, sugar, beef, canola oil, contains less than 1% of: salt, spices, citric acid, dehydrated onions, dehydrated garlic, beef fat, flavoring, dehydrated beef stock, onion extract, garlic extract, beef extract, yeast extract,

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.

  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
2 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.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 317 pasta sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 219th. 49% of the pasta 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 317 pasta sauces, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0051000027948, last edited 29 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 C (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.