Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Tesco Bramley Apple Pie ultra-processed?

Sweet pies Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Tesco Bramley Apple Pie

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:

  • 22 ingredients
  • 5 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed sweet pies

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

Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Niacin, Iron, Calcium Sulphate, Thiamin), Apple, Water, Sugar, Palm Oil, Thickener (Modified Maize Starch), Rapeseed Oil, Invert Sugar Syrup, Lemon Juice, Salt, Raising Agents (Sodium Bicarbonate, Disodium Diphosphate), Antioxidant (Ascorbic Acid)

Additives: E300 Ascorbic acid , E450 Diphosphates , E450i Disodium diphosphate , E500 Sodium carbonates , E500ii Sodium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

Wheat Flour(Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Niacin, Iron, Calcium Sulphate, Thiamin), Apple, Water, Sugar, Palm Oil, Thickener (Modified Maize Starch), Rapeseed Oil, Invert Sugar Syrup, Lemon Juice, Salt, Raising Agents (Sodium Bicarbonate, Disodium Diphosphate), Antioxidant (Ascorbic Acid).

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.

  • E450 Diphosphates Diphosphates are phosphate salts used as raising agents in baking powder, and to hold water in processed meats and cheese.
  • 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.

  • Invert sugar Invert sugar is ordinary sugar split into glucose and fructose with acid or enzymes.
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 38 sweet pies

From least to most processed, this one ranks 6th. 95% of the sweet pies 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 38 sweet pies, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0285768001906, 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.