Is it ultra-processed?
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Is The Original HP Sauce ultra-processed?

390 ml Brown sauces Sold in Australia and New Zealand

Pack of The Original HP Sauce

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:

  • 16 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed brown 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

tomatoes, malt vinegar (from barley), molasses, glucose-fructose syrup (from wheat), spirit vinegar, sugar, dates, maize thickener (1422), rye flour, salt, spices, flavours, tamarind

Additives: E1422 Acetylated distarch adipate

Also detected, but not matched to one ingredient: E1422 Acetylated distarch adipate.

As written on the pack

tomatoes, malt vinegar (from barley), molasses, glucose-fructose syrup (from wheat), spirit vinegar, sugar, dates, maize thickener (1422), rye flour, salt, spices, flavours, tamarind concentrate.

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.

  • E1422 Acetylated distarch adipate Acetylated distarch adipate is a chemically modified starch that holds up to heating, freezing and acidity, used to thicken sauces and fillings.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.

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.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
2 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.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 19 brown sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 18th. 89% of the brown 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 19 brown sauces, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 9300657116408, last edited 6 August 2025), 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.