Is it ultra-processed?
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Is The Healthy Menu Smoky BBQ Mixed Beans ultra-processed?

250 g Prepared lentils Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of The Healthy Menu Smoky BBQ Mixed Beans

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:

  • 25 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score B

Less processed prepared lentils

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

Cooked Green Lentils 54%, Kidney Beans 13%, Tomato Paste, Sweetcorn 5%, Green Peppers 5%, Onions, Adzuki Beans 5%, Spices, Fructose, Vegetable Oils (Sunflower Oil, Rapeseed Oil), Water, Caster Sugar, Onion Powder, Molasses, Water, Glucose Syrup, Salt, Guar Gum, Sea Salt, Garlic Powder, Acetic Acid, Malic Acid, Cornflour

Additives: E260 Acetic acid , E296 Malic acid , E412 Guar gum

As written on the pack

Cooked Green Lentils (54%), Cooked Kidney Beans (13%), Tomato Paste, Sweetcorn (5%), Green Peppers (5%), Onions, Adzuki Beans (5%), Spices, Fructose, Vegetable Oils (Sunflower Oil and/or Rapeseed Oil), Smoked Water, Caster Sugar, Onion Powder, Molasses, Water, Glucose Syrup, Salt, Stabiliser (Guar Gum), Sea Salt, Garlic Powder, Acidity Regulators (Acetic Acid, Malic Acid), Cornflour.

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.

  • E412 Guar gum Guar gum is a thickener ground from the seeds of the guar plant.

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.

  • 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.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
4 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.

  • Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.
  • Vegetable oil Vegetable oils are pressed or extracted from seeds, nuts and fruits.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 8 prepared lentils

From least to most processed, this one ranks 8th. 50% of the prepared lentils 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 8 prepared lentils, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5063089394915, last edited 9 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 B (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.