Is Tesco Finest Lemon Curd ultra-processed?

320 g Lemon curds 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
E406 Agar

9 ingredients
1 additive
Nutri-Score E

Less processed lemon curds

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

Sugar (processing marker), Whole Egg 22%, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Butter (processing marker), Water, Gelling Agent (ultra-processing marker) (Agar (ultra-processing marker)), Salt (processing marker), Lemon Oil

Additives: E406 Agar

As written on the pack

Sugar (Sulphites), Pasteurised Whole Egg (22%), Concentrated Lemon Juice (Sulphites) (8%), Butter (Milk) (8%), Water, Gelling Agent (Agar), Salt, Lemon Oil. Allergy Advice For allergens, see ingredients in bold. Suitable for vegetarians

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.

E406 Agar A food additive used to dissolve, dilute, disperse or otherwise physically modify a food additive or nutrient without altering its function -and without exerting any technological effect itself- in order to facilitate its handling, application or use of the food additive or nutrient.
Gelling agent Gelling agents such as pectin, gelatine or carrageenan set liquids into gels and stabilise textures.

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.

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

How the NOVA groups work

Among 11 lemon curds

From least to most processed, this one ranks 5th. 82% of the lemon curds 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 11 lemon curds, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5052004529389, last edited 19 July 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 E (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.