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Is Tesco Black bean cooking sauce ultra-processed?

500g Soy sauces Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Tesco Black bean cooking sauce

It's processed, but not ultra-processed

  1. 1 Unprocessed
  2. 2 Kitchen staple
  3. 3 Processed
  4. 4 Ultra-processed

Whole foods combined with:

  • 26 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed soy 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, cornflour, black beans 4% (black soya beans, sea salt), onion 4%, red pepper 4%, sugar, malt vinegar (barley), soy sauce (water, sugar, rice vinegar, soya bean, wheat, salt), demerara sugar, malted barley extract, garlic purée, ginger, toasted sesame oil, ground ginger, acidity regulator (citric acid), black pepper

Additives: E330 Citric acid

As written on the pack

water, cornflour, black beans 4% (black soya beans, sea salt), onion 4%, red pepper 4%, sugar, malt vinegar ( barley ), soy sauce (water, sugar, rice vinegar, soya bean, wheat , salt), demerara sugar, malted barley extract, garlic purée, ginger purée, toasted sesame oil, ground ginger, acidity regulator (citric acid), black pepper,

What makes it processed

Processed ingredients

Processed foods in their own right, such as cheese or milk powder.

  • Sauce A prepared sauce used as an ingredient.

Culinary ingredients

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.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 94 soy sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 34th. 60% of the soy 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 94 soy sauces, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5052909547327, 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.