Is Sainsbury's Pepperoni ultra-processed?

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:

Dextrose
Glucose

13 ingredients
3 additives
Nutri-Score E

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

Pork, Salt (processing marker), Sugar (processing marker), Dextrose (ultra-processing marker), Chilli Purée, Antioxidant (Sodium Ascorbate), Preservatives (processing marker) (Potassium Nitrate (processing marker)), Sodium Nitrite (processing marker), Chilli Pepper, White Pepper, Paprika

Additives: E250 Sodium nitrite , E252 Potassium nitrate , E301 Sodium ascorbate

As written on the pack

Pork, Salt, Sugar, Dextrose, Chilli Purée, Antioxidant: Sodium Ascorbate; Preservatives: Potassium Nitrate, Sodium Nitrite; Chilli Pepper, White Pepper, Paprika.

What makes it ultra-processed

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.

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.

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.
E252 Potassium nitrate 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.
Preservative Preservatives slow spoilage by microbes.
Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 01248692, last edited 5 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.