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Is Tesco Chicken & Bacon Pasta Bake ultra-processed?

Meals with chicken Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Tesco Chicken & Bacon Pasta Bake

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 B

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

skimmed milk, cooked pasta, water, durum wheat semolinal, water, chicken breas 10%, mature cheddar cheese, cooked beechwood smoked streaky bacon pork belly, salt, preservative (sodium nitrite), antioxidant (sodium ascorbate), l, cornflour, medium fat soft cheese, single cream, soured cream, mil arlic purée, salt, black pepper, ade using chicken from thailand and british and eu pork, ergy advice r allergens, including cereals containing gluten, aution hough every care has been taken to remove bones, some may remain

Additives: E250 Sodium nitrite

As written on the pack

skimmed milk, cooked pasta [water, durum wheat semolinal, water, chicken breas 10%), mature cheddar cheese (milk), cooked beechwood smoked streaky bacon pork belly, salt, preservative (sodium nitrite), antioxidant (sodium ascorbate)l. cornflour, medium fat soft cheese (milk), single cream (milk), soured cream (mil arlic purée, salt, black pepper. ade using chicken from thailand and british and eu pork. ergy advice r allergens, including cereals containing gluten, see ingredients in bold. aution hough every care has been taken to remove bones, some may remain.

What makes it processed

Processed ingredients

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

  • Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

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.

Preservation and traditional processing

Keep food safe or ferment it, like preservatives and cultures. A sign of processing, not ultra-processing.

  • E250 Sodium nitrite 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.

Category rules

Open Food Facts puts every product in this category in at least this group.

  • Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 213 meals with chicken

From least to most processed, this one ranks 39th. 79% of the meals with chicken 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 213 meals with chicken, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5059697705465, last edited 25 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 B (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.