Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Tesco Creamy tomato and herb pasta bake sauce ultra-processed?

500 g Tomato sauces Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Tesco Creamy tomato and herb pasta bake 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:

  • 17 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score A

Less processed tomato sauces

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

tomato purée 75%, cream, tomato, sunflower oil, cornflour, full fat soft cheese, sugar, onion, herbs, salt, acidity regulator (citric acid), thickener (xanthan gum), garlic powder, sweetener (steviol glycosides)

Additives: E330 Citric acid , E415 Xanthan gum , E960 Steviol glycosides

As written on the pack

reconstituted tomato purée (75%), cream (milk) (5%), tomato, sunflower oil, cornflour, full fat soft cheese (milk) (2%), sugar, onion, herbs, salt, acidity regulator (citric acid), thickener (xanthan gum), garlic powder, sweetener (steviol glycosides).

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.

  • E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
  • E960 Steviol glycosides Steviol glycosides are sweet compounds extracted and purified from the leaves of the stevia plant.
  • Sweetener Sweeteners give sweetness with few or no calories, many at hundreds of times the strength of sugar.
  • Thickener Thickeners, often gums or modified starches, make liquids more viscous so that a product feels richer than its ingredients alone would make it.
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.

  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.
  • Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 442 tomato sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 436th. 40% of the tomato sauces 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 442 tomato sauces, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5051898805821, last edited 4 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 A (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.