Is Tesco Sriracha ultra-processed?

Hot sauces Sold in the United Kingdom and Germany

Pack of Tesco Sriracha

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:

  • 18 ingredients
  • 2 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed hot sauces

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

pickled red chillies mash 61%, red chillies, salt (processing marker), acid (acetic acid), sugar (processing marker), mince garlic 10%, water, salt (processing marker), acid, acetic acid, thickener (ultra-processing marker) (modified maize starch (ultra-processing marker)), stabiliser (xanthan gum (ultra-processing marker)), colour (ultra-processing marker) (paprika), chilli

Additives: E260 Acetic acid , E415 Xanthan gum

As written on the pack

pickled red chillies mash (61%) (red chillies, salt, acid( acetic acid), sugar, mince garlic (10%), water , salt, acid (acetic acid, thickener ( modified maize starch), stabiliser (xanthan gum), colour(paprika), chilli 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.

  • E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
  • Thickener Thickeners, often gums or modified starches, make liquids more viscous so that a product feels richer than its ingredients alone would make it.
  • 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

Among 184 hot sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 167th. 70% of the hot sauces 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 184 hot sauces, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5010338404949, last edited 25 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 E (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.