Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Sainsbury’s Carrot Cake ultra-processed?

430 g Cakes Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Sainsbury’s Carrot Cake

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:

  • 33 ingredients
  • 5 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed cakes

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

Cream Cheese Buttercream 27% (Sugar, Butter (Cows' Milk), Cream Cheese (Cows' Milk), Dried Glucose Syrup, Pasteurised Lemon Juice, Cornflour), Fortified Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Carrot 12%, Sugar, Dark Brown Sugar, Free Range Egg, Rapeseed Oil, Walnuts 5%, Sultanas, Humectant (Vegetable Glycerine), Golden Syrup, Pineapple, Desiccated Coconut, Raising Agents (Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate), Disodium Diphosphate, Spices (Cinnamon, Nutmeg)

Additives: E422 Glycerol , E450 Diphosphates , E450i Disodium diphosphate , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

Cream Cheese Buttercream (27%) (Sugar, Butter (Cows' Milk), Cream Cheese (Cows' Milk), Dried Glucose Syrup, Pasteurised Lemon Juice, Cornflour), Fortified Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Carrot (12%), Sugar, Dark Brown Sugar, Pasteurised Free Range Egg, Rapeseed Oil, Walnuts (5%), Sultanas, Humectant: Vegetable Glycerine; Golden Syrup, Pineapple, Desiccated Coconut, Raising Agents: Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate, Disodium Diphosphate; Ground Spices (Cinnamon, Nutmeg).

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.

  • E422 Glycerol Glycerol is a sweet-tasting liquid used to keep products moist and soft.
  • E450 Diphosphates Diphosphates are phosphate salts used as raising agents in baking powder, and to hold water in processed meats and cheese.
  • Humectant Humectants are substances which prevent foods from drying out by counteracting the effect of an atmosphere having a low degree of humidity, or promote the dissolution of a powder in an aqueous medium.

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.

  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • Glucose syrup Glucose syrup is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • Invert sugar Invert sugar is ordinary sugar split into glucose and fructose with acid or enzymes.
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.

  • Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.
  • Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 377 cakes

From least to most processed, this one ranks 181st. 94% of the cakes 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 377 cakes, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 01081077, last edited 27 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 E (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.