Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Tesco Onion Rings ultra-processed?

150g Puffed salty snacks Sold in the United Kingdom and France

Pack of Tesco Onion Rings

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:

  • 26 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed puffed salty snacks

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

Maize, Vegetable Oils (Rapeseed Oil, Sunflower Oil), Durum Wheat Semolina, Dextrose, Maltodextrin, Onion, Salt, Sugar, Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Potassium Chloride, Yeast Powder (Barley), Flavouring, Garlic, Yeast Extract, Colour (Paprika Extract), Malic Acid, Citric Acid

Additives: E160c Paprika extract , E296 Malic acid , E330 Citric acid

As written on the pack

Maize, Vegetable Oils [Rapeseed Oil, Sunflower Oil], Durum Wheat Semolina, Dextrose, Maltodextrin, Onion Powder, Salt, Sugar, Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin], Potassium Chloride, Yeast Powder (Barley), Flavouring, Garlic Powder, Yeast Extract, Colour (Paprika Extract), Malic Acid, Citric Acid.

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.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.

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.
  • Maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a white powder made by partly breaking down starch.
4 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.

  • Salty snacks Products in the category "Salty snacks" are at least group 3.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 90 puffed salty snacks

From least to most processed, this one ranks 77th. 77% of the puffed salty snacks 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 90 puffed salty snacks, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5051008187991, last edited 10 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 C (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.