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Is Samyang Buldak Hot Chicken Flavor Sauce ultra-processed?

200ml Hot sauces Sold in Australia, France and 2 more countries

Pack of Samyang Buldak Hot Chicken Flavor Sauce

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:

  • 30 ingredients
  • 6 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed hot 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

Water, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, soybean oil, yeast extract powder, onion, corn syrup, hydrolyzed soy protein, spices, modified tapioca starch, soy sauce (water, soybean, wheat), artificial chicken flavor, capsicum oleoresin, paprika color, wheat starch, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, citric acid, monosodium glutamate, rice flour, gluconic acid, lactococcus powder, silicon dioxide, palm oil, coconut oil, xanthan gum, green tea extract

Additives: E160c Paprika extract , E330 Citric acid , E415 Xanthan gum , E621 Monosodium glutamate , E627 Disodium guanylate , E631 Disodium inosinate

As written on the pack

Water, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, soybean oil, yeast extract powder, onion, corn syrup, hydrolyzed soy protein, spices, modified tapioca starch, soy sauce (water, soybean, wheat), artificial chicken flavor, capsicum oleoresin, paprika color, wheat starch, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, citric acid, monosodium glutamate, rice flour, gluconic acid, lactococcus powder, silicon dioxide, palm oil, coconut oil, xanthan gum, green tea extract.

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.

  • E160c Paprika extract Paprika extract is a red-orange colour extracted from paprika peppers.
  • E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
  • E621 Monosodium glutamate Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, made by fermentation and used to strengthen savoury taste.
  • E627 Disodium guanylate Disodium guanylate is a flavour enhancer usually used together with MSG.
  • E631 Disodium inosinate Disodium inosinate is a flavour enhancer usually used together with MSG.
  • Modified starch Modified starch is starch altered physically, with enzymes or chemically, so that it thickens, gels or survives freezing and heating better than ordinary starch.

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.

  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • High fructose corn syrup High-fructose corn syrup is made from corn starch: enzymes break it down to glucose and convert part of that into fructose, giving a syrup about as sweet as table sugar.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
4 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.

  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.
  • Sauce A prepared sauce used as an ingredient.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 185 hot sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 185th. 70% of the hot 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 185 hot sauces, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 8801073411388, last edited 30 September 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.