Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Sainsbury's Flourish Sweet Chilli Lentil & Pea Cakes ultra-processed?

122g Puffed rice cakes Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Sainsbury's Flourish Sweet Chilli Lentil & Pea Cakes

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:

  • 25 ingredients
  • No additives

Less processed puffed rice 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

lentil flour 77% rapeseed oil sweet chilli seasoning (sugar, salt, spices (onion, fructose, garlic, yeast extract, red bell pepper, turmeric, coriander, fenugreek, fennel seed, chilli, anti-cakinf agent (maltodextrin), dextrose, garlic, sunflower oul), chilli, lemongrass, flavouring, acidity regulator (citric acid)), Green peas 6%

As written on the pack

lentil flour 77% rapeseed oil sweet chilli seasoning (sugar, salt, spices (onion powder, fructose, garlic powder, yeast extract, red bell pepper, turmeric, coriander powder, fenugreek powder, fennel seed, chilli, anti-cakinf agent: maltodextrin, dextrose, garlic, sunflower oul), chilli extract, lemongrass, flavouring, acidity regulator: citric acid) Green peas 6%

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.

  • 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.

  • Dextrose Dextrose is pure glucose crystallised from starch-derived syrup.
  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • Maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a white powder made by partly breaking down starch.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
2 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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 142 puffed rice cakes

From least to most processed, this one ranks 129th. 63% of the puffed rice 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 142 puffed rice cakes, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00481526, last edited 29 August 2023), 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.
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.