Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Tesco Cottage pie ultra-processed?

400g Beef dishes Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Tesco Cottage pie

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:

  • 28 ingredients
  • No additives
  • Nutri-Score B

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

Mashed Potato (Potato, Skimmed Milk, Butter, Salt, White Pepper, Beef 22%, Onion, Water, Carrot, Cornflour, Beef Extract, Tomato Purée, Wheat Flour, Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Rapeseed Oil, Salt, Garlic Purée, Caramelised Sugar Syrup, Sugar, Onion, Thyme, White Pepper, Bay Leaf

As written on the pack

Mashed Potato [Potato, Skimmed Milk, Butter (Milk), Salt, White Pepper), Beef (22%), Onion, Water, Carrot, Cornflour, Beef Extract, Tomato Purée, Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin], Rapeseed Oil, Salt, Garlic Purée, Caramelised Sugar Syrup, Sugar, Onion Juice Concentrate, Thyme, White Pepper, Bay Leaf.

What makes it processed

Culinary ingredients

Kitchen staples like sugar, salt and oil. On their own they make a food processed, not ultra-processed.

  • Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

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 69 beef dishes

From least to most processed, this one ranks 10th. 55% of the beef dishes 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 69 beef dishes, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5059697706653, last edited 1 August 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.