Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Sainsbury's Raspberry Trifle ultra-processed?

Cakes Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Sainsbury's Raspberry Trifle

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
  • 12 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed 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

Custard 28% (Cows' Milk, Cows' Milk, Sugar, Thickener (Hydroxy Propyl Distarch Phosphate), Water, Stabiliser (Pectins), Flavouring, Colour (Mixed Carotenes)), Water, British Cream (Cows' Milk), Raspberries 13%, Sugar, Fortified Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Whole Egg, Dextrose, Stabilisers (Pectins), Calcium Phosphate, Tara Gum, Raspberry, Skimmed Cows' Milk Powder, Milk Protein Concentrate (Cows' Milk), Acidity Regulators (Citric Acid), Sodium Citrate, Raising Agents (Diphosphates), Sodium Bicarbonate, Flavouring, Egg White, Colour (Anthocyanins)

Additives: E1412 Distarch phosphate , E160a Carotene , E163 Anthocyanins , E170 Calcium carbonates , E170i Calcium carbonate , E330 Citric acid , E331 Sodium citrates , E417 Tara gum , E440 Pectins , E450 Diphosphates , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate

Also detected, but not matched to one ingredient: E1412 Distarch phosphate.

As written on the pack

Custard (28%) (Cows' Milk, Skimmed Cows' Milk, Sugar, Thickener: Hydroxy Propyl Distarch Phosphate; Water, Stabiliser: Pectins; Flavouring, Colour: Mixed Carotenes), Water, British Cream (Cows' Milk) (19%), Raspberries (13%), Sugar, Fortified Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Pasteurised Whole Egg, Dextrose, Stabilisers: Pectins, Calcium Phosphate, Tara Gum; Raspberry Concentrate, Skimmed Cows' Milk Powder, Milk Protein Concentrate (Cows' Milk), Acidity Regulators: Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate; Raising Agents: Diphosphates, Sodium Bicarbonate; Flavouring, Pasteurised Egg White, Colour: Anthocyanins.

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.

  • E1412 Distarch phosphate Emulsifiers are substances which make it possible to form or maintain a homogenous mixture of two or more immiscible phases such as oil and water in a foodstuff.
  • E160a Carotene Carotenes are orange-yellow pigments, either synthesised or extracted from carrots, algae or palm oil.
  • E163 Anthocyanins Colours are substances which add or restore colour in a food, and include natural constituents of foods and natural sources which are normally not consumed as foods as such and not normally used as characteristic ingredients of food.
  • E170 Calcium carbonates Calcium carbonate is chalk.
  • E417 Tara gum Stabilisers are substances which make it possible to maintain the physico-chemical state of a foodstuff; stabilisers include substances which enable the maintenance of a homogenous dispersion of two or more immiscible substances in a foodstuff, substances which stabilise, retain or intensify an existing colour of a foodstuff and substances which increase the binding capacity of the food, including the formation of cross-links between proteins enabling the binding of food pieces into re-constituted food.
  • E440 Pectins Pectins are gelling agents extracted from citrus peel or apple pomace.
Show 4 more
  • E450 Diphosphates Diphosphates are phosphate salts used as raising agents in baking powder, and to hold water in processed meats and cheese.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • Thickener Thickeners, often gums or modified starches, make liquids more viscous so that a product feels richer than its ingredients alone would make it.

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.
  • Milk proteins Milk proteins are proteins separated from milk, such as caseinates and whey protein concentrates, added to adjust texture or raise protein content.
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.

  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Sweet snacks Products in the category "Sweet snacks" are at least group 3.
  • Milk powder Milk powder is milk with the water evaporated off: a preserved form of a whole food rather than an industrial extract.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 377 cakes

From least to most processed, this one ranks 328th. 94% of the 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 377 cakes, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 01171204, last edited 15 May 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.