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Is Tesco Sausage bacon and egg sandwich ultra-processed?

266g Sandwiches filled with cold cuts Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Tesco Sausage bacon and egg sandwich

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:

  • 59 ingredients
  • 15 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed sandwiches filled with cold cuts

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

Wheat Flour, Hard-Boiled Egg 22%, Water, Sausage 14% (Pork, Lentils, Water, Wheat Flour, Onion, Potato Starch, Wheat Starch, Rapeseed Oil, Sugar, Onion Powder, Dextrose, Sage, Salt, Black Pepper, Tetrasodium Diphosphate, Wheat Protein, Yeast Extract, Flavourings, Cane Molasses, Coriander, Ammonium Hydrogen Carbonate), Smoked Bacon 7% (Pork Belly, Salt, Pentasodium Triphosphate, Pentapotassium Triphosphate, Sodium Ascorbate, Sodium Nitrite), Malted Wheat Flakes, Tomato Paste, Tomato, Rapeseed Oil, Wheat Bran, Spirit Vinegar, Sugar, Cornflour, Yeast, Malted Barley Flour, Salt, mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, mono- and Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Wheat Gluten, Egg, Malted Wheat Flour, Pasteurised Egg Yolk, White Pepper, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Ascorbic Acid, Palm Oil, Brown Mustard Seeds, Garlic Powder, Clove, Acetic Acid, Lactic Acid, Citric Acid

Additives: E250 Sodium nitrite , E260 Acetic acid , E270 Lactic acid , E300 Ascorbic acid , E301 Sodium ascorbate , E330 Citric acid , E450 Diphosphates , E450iii Tetrasodium diphosphate , E451 Triphosphates , E451i Pentasodium triphosphate , E451ii Pentapotassium triphosphate , E471 Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids , E472e Mono- and diacetyltartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids , E503 Ammonium carbonates , E503ii Ammonium hydrogen carbonate

As written on the pack

Wheat Flour, Hard-Boiled Egg (22%), Water, Sausage (14%) [Pork, Lentils, Water, Wheat Flour, Onion, Potato Starch, Wheat Starch, Rapeseed Oil, Sugar, Onion Powder, Dextrose, Sage, Salt, Black Pepper, Emulsifier (Tetrasodium Diphosphate), Wheat Protein, Yeast Extract, Flavourings, Cane Molasses, Coriander Extract, Raising Agent (Ammonium Hydrogen Carbonate)], Smoked Bacon (7%) [Pork Belly, Salt, Stabilisers (Pentasodium Triphosphate, Pentapotassium Triphosphate), Antioxidant (Sodium Ascorbate), Preservative (Sodium Nitrite)], Malted Wheat Flakes, Tomato Paste, Tomato, Rapeseed Oil, Wheat Bran, Spirit Vinegar, Sugar, Cornflour, Yeast, Malted Barley Flour, Salt, Emulsifiers (Mono - and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Mono - and Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Mono-and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids), Wheat Gluten, Pasteurised Egg, Malted Wheat Flour, Pasteurised Egg Yolk, White Pepper, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Flour Treatment Agent (Ascorbic Acid), Palm Oil, Brown Mustard Seeds, Garlic Powder, Clove, Preservatives (Acetic Acid, Lactic Acid), Acidity Regulator (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.

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.
  • Gluten Wheat gluten, sold as "vital wheat gluten", is the protein washed out of wheat flour.
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.

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Sandwiches Products in the category "Sandwiches" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 24 sandwiches filled with cold cuts

From least to most processed, this one ranks 21st. 83% of the sandwiches filled with cold cuts 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 24 sandwiches filled with cold cuts, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5051140265441, last edited 6 August 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.