Is Sainsbury's taste the difference Falafels ultra-processed?

Refrigerated falafel 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
E450 Diphosphates

21 ingredients
2 additives
Nutri-Score A

Less processed refrigerated falafel

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

Soaked Chickpeas 40% (Chickpeas, Water), Onion, Broad Beans 20%, Rapeseed Oil, Coriander, Gram Flour, Rice Flour, Parsley, Garlic Purée, Salt (processing marker), Coriander, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Cumin, Maize Starch (processing marker), Black Pepper, Raising Agents (Diphosphates (ultra-processing marker)), Sodium Carbonates, Dextrose (ultra-processing marker)

Additives: E450 Diphosphates , E500 Sodium carbonates

As written on the pack

Soaked Chickpeas (40%) (Chickpeas, Water), Onion, Broad Beans (20%), Rapeseed Oil, Coriander, Gram Flour, Rice Flour, Parsley, Garlic Purée, Salt, Coriander Powder, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Cumin Powder, Maize Starch, Black Pepper, Raising Agents: Diphosphates, Sodium Carbonates; Dextrose.

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.

E450 Diphosphates Diphosphates are phosphate salts used as raising agents in baking powder, and to hold water in processed meats and cheese.

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.

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.
Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 17 refrigerated falafel

From least to most processed, this one ranks 17th. 35% of the refrigerated falafel 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 17 refrigerated falafel, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5063334001193, 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 A (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.