Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Tesco 50% Less Fat Salad Cream ultra-processed?

Salad dressings Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Tesco 50% Less Fat Salad Cream

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:

  • 29 ingredients
  • 6 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed salad dressings

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, Spirit Vinegar, Sugar, Rapeseed Oil 4.5%, Modified Maize Starch, Mustard, Water, Mustard Seed, Spirit Vinegar, Red Wine Vinegar, Salt, Sugar, Dextrose, Flavouring, Pepp, Egg Yolk, Salt, Thickeners (Gua Gum, Xanthan Gum), Acidity Regulato (Tartaric Acid), Preservative (Potassium Sorbate), Colour (Beta-Carotene), Sweetener (Sucralose), see ingredients in old

Additives: E160a Carotene , E160ai Beta-carotene , E202 Potassium sorbate , E334 L(+)-tartaric acid , E415 Xanthan gum , E955 Sucralose

As written on the pack

Water, Spirit Vinegar, Sugar, Rapeseed Oil (4.5%), Modified Maize Starch, Mustard [Water, Mustard Seed, Spirit Vinegar, Red Wine Vinegar, Salt, Sugar, Dextrose, Flavouring, Pepp, Dried Egg Yolk, Salt, Thickeners (Gua Gum, Xanthan Gum), Acidity Regulato (Tartaric Acid), Preservative (Potassium Sorbate), Colour (Beta-Carotene), Sweetener (Sucralose). Allergy Advice For allergens, see ingredients in old. Suitable for vegetarians.

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.

  • E160a Carotene Carotenes are orange-yellow pigments, either synthesised or extracted from carrots, algae or palm oil.
  • E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
  • E955 Sucralose Sucralose is a sweetener made by chlorinating sugar.
  • 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.
  • Sweetener Sweeteners give sweetness with few or no calories, many at hundreds of times the strength of sugar.
Show 2 more
  • Thickener Thickeners, often gums or modified starches, make liquids more viscous so that a product feels richer than its ingredients alone would make it.
  • 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.

  • 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.
5 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.

  • E202 Potassium sorbate Preservatives are substances which prolong the shelf-life of foods by protecting them against deterioration caused by micro-organisms and/or which protect against growth of pathogenic micro-organisms.
  • Preservative Preservatives slow spoilage by microbes.
  • 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 252 salad dressings

From least to most processed, this one ranks 250th. 85% of the salad dressings 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 252 salad dressings, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5057753938963, 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 C (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.