Is Tesco Balti Cooking Sauce ultra-processed?

500 g Curry sauces 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:

Modified starch

34 ingredients
1 additive
Nutri-Score C

Less processed curry 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, tomato 21%, onion 15%, tomato puree 12%, modified maize starch (ultra-processing marker), green pepper 2.5%, red pepper 2.5%, coriander, lemon juice from concentrate, sugar (processing marker), rapeseed oil, salt (processing marker), coriander, cumin, fenugreek, garlic puree, acidity regulator (lactic acid), ground ginger, rice flour, mustard, fennel, chilli, turmeric, cardamom, paprika, chilli, garlic, cassia, bay leaves, nutmeg, black pepper, cloves, onion

Additives: E270 Lactic acid

As written on the pack

water, tomato (21%), onion (15%), tomato puree (12%), modified maize starch, green pepper (2.5%), red pepper (2.5%), coriander, lemon juice from concentrate, sugar, rapeseed oil, salt, ground coriander, ground cumin, ground fenugreek, garlic puree, acidity regulator (lactic acid), ground ginger, rice flour, mustard powder, ground fennel, chilli powder, ground turmeric, ground cardamom, paprika, dried chilli, garlic powder, ground cassia, ground bay leaves, ground nutmeg, black pepper, ground cloves, onion powder

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.

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.

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 89 curry sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 40th. 67% of the curry 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 89 curry sauces, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5050179081091, last edited 1 May 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.