Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Sainsbury's Brioche burger buns ultra-processed?

4 Hamburger buns Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Sainsbury's Brioche burger buns

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:

  • 23 ingredients
  • 2 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed hamburger buns

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

Fortified Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Water, Free Range Egg 12%, Sugar, Butter (Cows' Milk), Rapeseed Oil, Yeast, Salt, Wheat Flour, Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Palm Oil, Flavouring, Colour (Carotenes), Flour Treatment Agent (Ascorbic Acid)

Additives: E160a Carotene , E300 Ascorbic acid

As written on the pack

Fortified Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Water, Pasteurised Free Range Egg (12%), Sugar, Butter (Cows' Milk) (1.5%), Rapeseed Oil, Yeast, Salt, Wheat Flour, Fermented Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Palm Oil, Flavouring, Colour: Carotenes; Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid.

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.
  • 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.

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.

  • Gluten Wheat gluten, sold as "vital wheat gluten", is the protein washed out of wheat flour.
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.

  • Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 55 hamburger buns

From least to most processed, this one ranks 18th. 96% of the hamburger buns 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 55 hamburger buns, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00497657, last edited 14 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.