Is Sainsbury's Chicken & bacon pasta ultra-processed?
It's processed, but not ultra-processed
- 1 Unprocessed
- 2 Kitchen staple
- 3 Processed
- 4 Ultra-processed
Whole foods combined with:
- 40 ingredients
- 2 additives
- Nutri-Score C
Ingredients
Ultra-processing Processing
Penne Pasta (Durum Wheat Semolina, Water), Cows' Milk, Cows' Milk, Chicken Breast 12%, Water, Mature Cheddar Cheese (processing marker) 5% (Cows' Milk), Single Cream (Cows' Milk), Beechwood Smoked Bacon Lardons 3.5% (Pork Shoulder, Pork Belly, Salt (processing marker), Sodium Nitrite (processing marker), Sodium Ascorbate), Cornflour, White Wine 1%, Chicken Bouillon (Chicken Protein, Chicken Stock, Chicken Carcass, Water, Chicken Fat, Salt (processing marker)), Garlic Purée, Salt (processing marker), Parsley, English Mustard (Water, Mustard Flour, Salt (processing marker), Sugar (processing marker), Wheat Flour, Yellow Mustard Flour, Turmeric), Black Pepper, Nutmeg, Bay Leaf
Additives: E250 Sodium nitrite , E301 Sodium ascorbate
As written on the pack
Cooked Penne Pasta (Durum Wheat Semolina, Water), Whole Cows' Milk, Skimmed Cows' Milk, Chicken Breast (12%), Water, Mature Cheddar Cheese (5%) (Cows' Milk), Single Cream (Cows' Milk), Beechwood Smoked Bacon Lardons (3.5%) (Pork Shoulder, Pork Belly, Salt, Preservative: Sodium Nitrite, Antioxidant: Sodium Ascorbate), Cornflour, White Wine (1%), Chicken Bouillon (Chicken Protein, Chicken Stock, Chicken Carcass, Water, Chicken Fat, Salt), Garlic Purée, Salt, Parsley, English Mustard (Water, Mustard Flour, Salt, Sugar, Wheat Flour, Yellow Mustard Flour, Turmeric), Black Pepper, Nutmeg, Bay Leaf.
What makes it processed
Processed ingredients
Processed foods in their own right, such as cheese or milk powder.
- Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.
Culinary ingredients
Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.
- E250 Sodium nitrite Preservatives are substances which prolong the shelf-life of foods by protecting them against deterioration caused by micro-organisms and/or which protect against growth of pathogenic micro-organisms.
- Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
- Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
Category rules
Open Food Facts puts every product in this category in at least this group.
- Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.
Among 351 microwave meals
From least to most processed, this one ranks 95th. 72% of the microwave meals here are ultra-processed.
About this information
- Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00458207, last edited 29 September 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.