Is Tesco Cranberry Sauce ultra-processed?

200g Jams Sold in the United Kingdom

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Gelling agent
Glucose
Fructose
E440 Pectins

9 ingredients
3 additives
Nutri-Score D

Less processed jams

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

cranberry, sugar (processing marker), glucose (ultra-processing marker), fructose (ultra-processing marker), gelling agent (ultra-processing marker) (pectin (ultra-processing marker)), acidity regulators (sodium citrate), citric acid

Additives: E330 Citric acid , E331 Sodium citrates , E440 Pectins

As written on the pack

cranberry, sugar, glucose, fructose, gelling agent: pectin, acidity regulators: sodium citrate, citric 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.

E440 Pectins Pectins are gelling agents extracted from citrus peel or apple pomace.
Gelling agent Gelling agents such as pectin, gelatine or carrageenan set liquids into gels and stabilise textures.

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.

Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.

1 ingredient that would only make it processed

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

Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 323 jams

From least to most processed, this one ranks 295th. 90% of the jams 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 323 jams, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5054269765397, last edited 14 April 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 D (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.