Is Tesco Hot Chilli Sauce ultra-processed?

500g Pasta sauces 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:

Colour
E160c Paprika extract
E415 Xanthan gum

21 ingredients
3 additives
Nutri-Score A

Less processed pasta 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 54%, Water, Kidney Beans 8%, Onion 5%, Red Pepper 4%, Cornflour, Sugar (processing marker), Salt (processing marker), Chilli, Acidity Regulator (Lactic Acid), Garlic, Stabiliser (Xanthan Gum (ultra-processing marker)), Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder, Cumin, Colour (ultra-processing marker) (Paprika Extract (ultra-processing marker)), Dried Oregano, Coriander, Parsley

Additives: E160c Paprika extract , E270 Lactic acid , E415 Xanthan gum

As written on the pack

Tomato Purée (54%), Water, Kidney Beans (8%), Onion (5%), Red Pepper (4%), Cornflour, Sugar, Salt, Chilli Powder, Acidity Regulator (Lactic Acid), Garlic Powder, Stabiliser (Xanthan Gum), Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder, Ground Cumin, Colour (Paprika Extract), Dried Oregano, Ground Coriander, Dried Parsley.

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.
E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.

2 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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 317 pasta sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 289th. 49% of the pasta 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 317 pasta sauces, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5052910218209, last edited 27 March 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.