Is Sainsburys Tomato & Chilli Pasta Sauce ultra-processed?

Tomato sauces Sold in the United Kingdom

It's processed, but not ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Whole foods combined with:

Starch
Sugar

9 ingredients
1 additive
Nutri-Score A

Less processed tomato sauces

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

tomatoes 76%, tomato puree 14%, water, sugar (processing marker), maize starch (processing marker), onions, red chillies, acidity regulator (citric acid)

Additives: E330 Citric acid

As written on the pack

tomatoes (76%), tomato puree (14%), water, sugar, maize starch, onions, red chillies, acidity regulator: citric acid

What makes it processed

Culinary ingredients

Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.

Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 442 tomato sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 214th. 40% of the tomato sauces 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 442 tomato sauces, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 01144963, last edited 27 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.