Is Tesco Oxtail Soup ultra-processed?

400g Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Tesco Oxtail Soup

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:

  • 30 ingredients
  • No additives
  • Nutri-Score B

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

Water, Tomato Purée, Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Beef Heart, Modified Maize Starch (ultra-processing marker), Carrot, Yeast Extract, Beef Skirt, Oxtail 1%, Onion, Onion, Barley Malt Extract, Red Wine, Salt (processing marker), Sugar (processing marker), Garlic Purée, Coriander, Turmeric, Nutmeg, Cumin, Garlic, Fennel, Chilli, White Pepper, Made using British beef

As written on the pack

Water, Tomato Purée, Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin], Beef Heart. Modified Maize Starch, Carrot, Yeast Extract, Beef Skirt, Oxtail (1%), Onion, Onion Powder, Barley Malt Extract, Red Wine, Salt, Sugar, Garlic Purée, Coriander, Turmeric, Nutmeg, Cumin, Garlic Powder, Fennel, Chilli, White Pepper. Made using British beef.

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.

  • 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.
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.

  • 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

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5000436960263, 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 B (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.