Is it ultra-processed?
Menu

Is Tesco Paella ultra-processed?

700g Rices Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Tesco Paella

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:

  • 46 ingredients
  • 8 additives
  • Nutri-Score D

Less processed rices

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

Water, Long Grain Rice, Prawns 7% (Prawns, Water, Salt, Acidity Regulator (Trisodium Citrate)), Peas, Tomato, Chorizo Pork Sausage 6%, Pork, Pork Fat, Salt, Spices, Glucose Syrup, Dextrose, Antioxidants (Sodium Erythorbate, Extracts of Rosemary, Preservative (Sodium Nitrite), Potato Starch, Spice Extracts, Yeast Extract), Chicken Breast 5%, Chicken Breast, Salt, Onion, Red Pepper, Glucose Syrup, Sunflower Oil, Salt, Tomato, Modified Maize Starch, Flavouring, Herbs, Spices, Anti-caking Agent (Silicon Dioxide), Dextrose, Acidity Regulator (Citric Acid), Fish, Colour (Curcumin)

Additives: E100 Curcumin , E250 Sodium nitrite , E316 Sodium erythorbate , E330 Citric acid , E331 Sodium citrates , E331iii Trisodium citrate , E392 Extracts of rosemary , E551 Silicon dioxide

As written on the pack

Water, Long Grain Rice, Prawns (7%) [Prawns (Crustacean), Water, Salt, Acidity Regulator (Trisodium Citrate)], Peas. Tomato, Chorizo Pork Sausage (6%) [Pork, Pork Fat, Salt, Spices, Glucose Syrup, Dextrose, Antioxidants (Sodium Erythorbate, Extracts of Rosemary, Preservative (Sodium Nitrite), Potato Starch, Spice Extracts, Yeast Extract). Cooked Chicken Breast Pieces (5%). [Chicken Breast, Salt), Onion, Red Pepper, Glucose Syrup, Sunflower Oil, Salt, Tomato Powder, Modified Maize Starch, Flavouring, Herbs, Spices. Anti-caking Agent (Silicon Dioxide). Dextrose, Acidity Regulator (Citric Acid), Fish Powder, Colour (Curcumin).

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.
  • E551 Silicon dioxide 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.

  • 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.
  • Glucose syrup Glucose syrup is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
7 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.

  • E250 Sodium nitrite Preservatives are substances which prolong the shelf-life of foods by protecting them against deterioration caused by micro-organisms and/or which protect against growth of pathogenic micro-organisms.
  • Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.
  • Anti-caking agent Anti-caking agents are substances which reduce the tendency of individual particles of a foodstuff to adhere to one another.
  • Preservative Preservatives slow spoilage by microbes.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 293 rices

From least to most processed, this one ranks 293rd. 35% of the rices 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 293 rices, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5059697259272, last edited 13 May 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 D (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.