Is Tesco crusty white bread ultra-processed?

800g Sliced breads Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Tesco crusty white bread

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:

  • 13 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed sliced breads

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

Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Water, Yeast, Salt (processing marker), Dextrose (ultra-processing marker), Palm Oil, Flour Treatment Agent (Ascorbic Acid)

Additives: E300 Ascorbic acid

As written on the pack

Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Water, Yeast, Salt, Dextrose, Palm Oil, Flour Treatment Agent (Ascorbic Acid)

What makes it ultra-processed

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.
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.

  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 389 sliced breads

From least to most processed, this one ranks 173rd. 87% of the sliced breads 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 389 sliced breads, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 0282370001355, last edited 16 June 2023), 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 E (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.