Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Tesco Smoky Butternut & Bean Casserole ultra-processed?

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Pack of Tesco Smoky Butternut & Bean Casserole

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:

  • 31 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score A

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

Tomato Puree, Mixed Beans 14% (Butter Beans, Black Turtle Beans), Butternut Squash 13%, Carrot, Onion, Red Pepper, Tomato 6%, Red Lentils, Rapeseed Oil, Tomato Juice, Smoked Paprika, Garlic Purée, Spices, Modified Maize Starch, Sugar, Salt, Spirit Vinegar, Coriander Leaf, Maize Starch, Concentrated Carrot Juice, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Black Pepper, Mushroom, Onion, Onion, Water, Colour (Paprika Extract), Thyme

Additives: E160c Paprika extract

As written on the pack

Tomato Puree, Mixed Beans (14%) [Butter Beans, Black Turtle Beans], Butternut Squash (13%), Carrot, Onion, Red Pepper, Tomato (6%), Red Lentils, Rapeseed Oil, Tomato Juice, Smoked Paprika, Garlic Purée, Spices, Modified Maize Starch, Sugar, Salt, Spirit Vinegar, Coriander Leaf, Maize Starch, Concentrated Carrot Juice, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Black Pepper, Mushroom Concentrate, Onion Powder, Onion Concentrate, Water, Colour (Paprika Extract). Thyme Extract.

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.
  • 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 5059697749971, 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.