Is Sainsbury's Chinese Style Stir Fry Sauce ultra-processed?

Cooking Sauces Sold in the United Kingdom

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Colour
E150a Plain caramel

22 ingredients
1 additive
Nutri-Score C

Less processed cooking 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

Water, Soy Sauce (processing marker) 12% (Water, Soya Bean, Wheat, Salt (processing marker)), Sugar (processing marker), Rapeseed Oil, Rice Wine Vinegar, Garlic Purée 4.5%, Ginger 4%, Cornflour, Five Spice (Star Anise, Cinnamon, Rennel Seed, Black Pepper, Clove), Black Pepper, Cinnamon, Colour (ultra-processing marker) (plain Caramel (ultra-processing marker))

Additives: E150a Plain caramel

As written on the pack

Water, Soy Sauce (12%) (Water, Soya Bean, Wheat. Salt), Sugar, Rapeseed Oil, Rice Wine Vinegar, Garlic Purée (4.5 %), Ginger Purée (4%), Cornflour, Five Spice (Star Anise, Cinnamon, Rennel Seed, Black Pepper, Clove), Black Pepper, Cinnamon, Colour: plain Caramel.

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.

E150a Plain caramel Plain caramel is a brown colour made by heating sugars.
Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.

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.

Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
Sauce A prepared sauce used as an ingredient.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 36 cooking Sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 23rd. 67% of the cooking 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 36 cooking Sauces, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 01232851, 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 C (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.