Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Sainsbury's Chicken Salad ultra-processed?

239g Chicken sandwiches Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Sainsbury's Chicken Salad

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:

  • 43 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score A

Less processed poultry sandwiches

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

Bread (Fortified Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Water, Malted Wheat Flakes, Wheat Bran, Yeast, Malted Barley Flour, Salt, mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, mono- and Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Wheat Gluten, Malted Wheat Flour, Rapeseed Oil, Ascorbic Acid, Wheat Flour, Wheat Starch), Chicken Breast 27% (Chicken Breast, Rice Starch, Salt, Water, Salt), Black Pepper Mayonnaise 13% (Water, Rapeseed Oil, Cornflour, Spirit Vinegar, Pasteurised Free Range Egg Yolk, Black Pepper, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Mustard Seeds, Sugar, White Wine Vinegar, Salt, Mustard Seeds), Tomato 7%, Cucumber 6%, Lettuce 5%

Additives: E300 Ascorbic acid , E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids , E472e Mono- and diacetyltartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids

As written on the pack

Malted Bread (Fortified Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Water, Malted Wheat Flakes, Wheat Bran, Yeast, Malted Barley Flour, Salt, Emulsifiers: Mono - and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Mono - and Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Mono - and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids; Wheat Gluten, Malted Wheat Flour, Rapeseed Oil, Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid; Wheat Flour, Wheat Starch), Chicken Breast (27%) (Chicken Breast, Rice Starch, Salt, Water, Salt), Black Pepper Mayonnaise (13%) (Water, Rapeseed Oil, Cornflour, Spirit Vinegar, Pasteurised Free Range Egg Yolk, Black Pepper, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Mustard Seeds, Sugar, White Wine Vinegar, Salt, Mustard Seeds), Tomato (7%), Cucumber (6%), Lettuce (5%).

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.

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.
5 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.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Sandwiches Products in the category "Sandwiches" are at least group 3.
  • Bread An ingredient mostly produced industrially and rarely used in home kitchens.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 16 chicken sandwiches

From least to most processed, this one ranks 3rd. 94% of the chicken sandwiches 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 16 chicken sandwiches, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00238366, last edited 23 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 A (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.