Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Sainsbury's Seafood Sticks ultra-processed?

250g Surimi Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Sainsbury's Seafood Sticks

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:

  • 14 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score D

Less processed fish preparations

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, Surimi 35% (Alaska Pollock, Pacific Hake, Sugar), Potato Starch, Sugar, Wheat Starch, Rapeseed Oil, Salt, Free Range Egg White, Flavouring, Lycopene, Free Range Egg

Additives: E160d Lycopene

As written on the pack

Water, Surimi 35% (Alaska Pollock (Fish) and/or Pacific Hake (Fish), Sugar), Potato Starch, Sugar, Wheat Starch, Rapeseed Oil, Salt, Dried Free Range Egg White, Flavouring (Contains Crustaceans), Lycopene, Dried Free Range Egg.

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.

  • E160d Lycopene 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.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
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.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 12 surimi

From least to most processed, this one ranks 2nd. 100% of the surimi 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 12 surimi, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00347266, last edited 31 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 D (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.