Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Tesco Honey & Mustard Chicken Pasta ultra-processed?

300 g Pasta salads Sold in the United Kingdom and France

Pack of Tesco Honey & Mustard Chicken Pasta

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:

  • 38 ingredients
  • 2 additives
  • Nutri-Score B

Less processed pasta salads

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

Cooked Pasta (Water, Durum Wheat Semolina), Chicken Breast 12%, Water, Sweetcorn, Crème Fraîche, Rapeseed Oil, Red Pepper, Yogurt, Honey, Spirit Vinegar, Mustard Seeds, Sugar, Mustard Flour, Egg, Salt, Parsley, Garlic Purée, White Pepper, Malt Vinegar (Barley), Citrus Fibre, Pasteurised Egg Yolk, Cornflour, Modified Potato Starch, Black Pepper, Sea Salt, Basil, Chive, Mustard, Pectin, Vinegar, Turmeric Extract, Pimento, Turmeric Powder, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder

Additives: E100 Curcumin , E440 Pectins

As written on the pack

Cooked Pasta [Water, Durum Wheat Semolina], Chicken Breast (12%), Water, Sweetcorn, Crème Fraîche (Milk), Rapeseed Oil, Red Pepper, Yogurt (Milk), Honey,Spirit Vinegar, Mustard Seeds, Sugar, Mustard Flour, Pasteurised Egg, Salt, Parsley, Garlic Purée, White Pepper, Malt Vinegar (Barley), Citrus Fibre, Pasteurised Egg Yolk, Cornflour, Modified Potato Starch, Black Pepper, Sea Salt, Basil, Chive, Mustard Bran, Thickener (Pectin), Vinegar, Turmeric Extract, Ground Pimento, Turmeric Powder, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder.

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.

  • E100 Curcumin Colours are substances which add or restore colour in a food, and include natural constituents of foods and natural sources which are normally not consumed as foods as such and not normally used as characteristic ingredients of food.
  • E440 Pectins Pectins are gelling agents extracted from citrus peel or apple pomace.
  • Modified starch Modified starch is starch altered physically, with enzymes or chemically, so that it thickens, gels or survives freezing and heating better than ordinary starch.

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.

  • Vegetable fiber Isolated plant fibres, such as inulin, oat fibre or bamboo fibre, are extracted industrially and added to change texture or support "source of fibre" claims.
5 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.

  • Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.
  • Honey Honey, used as a sweetener.
  • 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 42 pasta salads

From least to most processed, this one ranks 32nd. 60% of the pasta salads 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 42 pasta salads, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 10089149, last edited 30 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 B (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.