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Is Trader Joe's Coconut Chickpea Curry ultra-processed?

10 oz Plant-based meals Sold in the United States

Pack of Trader Joe's Coconut Chickpea Curry

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:

  • 21 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score D

Less processed plant-based meals

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

Water, coconut milk (coconut cream, water), chickpeas, carrots, onion, chickpea flour, sunflower oil, spices, salt, jaggery (cane sugar), green chile peppers, curry, turmeric, asafoetida oleoresin, turmeric extract (color), cinnamon oil, Contains coconut

Additives: E100 Curcumin

As written on the pack

Water, coconut milk (coconut cream, water), chickpeas, carrots, dried minced onion, chickpea flour, sunflower oil, spices, salt, jaggery (cane sugar), green chile peppers, dried curry leaves, turmeric, asafoetida oleoresin, turmeric extract (color), cinnamon oil. Contains coconut. May contain milk, soy, sesame, wheat, peanut, cashew.

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.

  • E100 Curcumin Colours are substances which add or restore colour in a food, and include natural constituents of foods and natural sources which are normally not consumed as foods as such and not normally used as characteristic ingredients of food.
  • Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.
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 65 plant-based meals

From least to most processed, this one ranks 54th. 49% of the plant-based meals 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 65 plant-based meals, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00757492, last edited 31 May 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 D (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.