Is it ultra-processed?
Menu

Is Tesco Chicken in white sauce ultra-processed?

392g Meals with chicken Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Tesco Chicken in white sauce

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:

  • 23 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score A

Less processed meals with chicken

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

Chicken Breast 42% (Chicken Breast, Salt), Water, Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin, Modified Maize Starch, Salt, Whole Milk, Chicken Fat, Wheat Flour, Wheat Flour, Calcium Chicken Extract, Skimmed Milk, Yeast Extract, Sugar, Chicory Fibre, Cornflour, Pepper Extract, Onion Extract, Thyme

Additives: E502 Carbonates

As written on the pack

Cooked Chicken Breast (42%) [Chicken Breast, Salt], Water, Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin], Modified Maize Starch, Salt, Whole Milk, Chicken Fat, Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Chicken Extract, Dried Skimmed Milk, Yeast Extract, Sugar, Chicory Fibre, Cornflour, Pepper Extract, Onion Extract, Thyme Extract.

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.

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.

  • Vegetable fiber Isolated plant fibres, such as inulin, oat fibre or bamboo fibre, are extracted industrially and added to change texture or support "source of fibre" claims.
4 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.

  • Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.
  • 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 213 meals with chicken

From least to most processed, this one ranks 94th. 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 5057753939885, last edited 25 September 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 A (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.