Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Tesco Crispy Chicken Breast Fillets ultra-processed?

Chicken breasts Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Tesco Crispy Chicken Breast Fillets

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:

  • 30 ingredients
  • 2 additives
  • Nutri-Score A

Less processed chicken breasts

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 Fillet 68%, Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Water, Durum Wheat Semolina, Wheat Gluten, Rice Flour, Wheat Starch, Salt, Yeast, Cornflour, Sugar, Rapeseed Oil, Dextrose, Yeast Extract, Onion, Garlic, Paprika, White Pepper, Black Pepper, Sage, Colour (Paprika Extract), Flour Treatment Agent (Ascorbic Acid), Made using British and EU chicken

Additives: E160c Paprika extract , E300 Ascorbic acid

As written on the pack

Chicken Breast Fillet (68%), Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin], Water, Durum Wheat Semolina, Wheat Gluten, Rice Flour, Wheat Starch, Salt, Yeast, Cornflour, Sugar, Rapeseed Oil, Dextrose, Yeast Extract, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Paprika, White Pepper, Black Pepper, Sage, Colour (Paprika Extract), Flour Treatment Agent (Ascorbic Acid). Made using British and EU chicken. Allergy Advice

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.

  • E160c Paprika extract Paprika extract is a red-orange colour extracted from paprika peppers.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.

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.

  • Dextrose Dextrose is pure glucose crystallised from starch-derived syrup.
  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
  • Gluten Wheat gluten, sold as "vital wheat gluten", is the protein washed out of wheat flour.
3 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.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 83 chicken breasts

From least to most processed, this one ranks 77th. 65% of the chicken breasts 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 83 chicken breasts, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5059697687006, last edited 28 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 A (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.