Is Trader Joe's Organic Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce ultra-processed?

18 oz Barbecue sauces Sold in the United States

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

E150c Ammonia caramel

17 ingredients
1 additive
Nutri-Score D

Less processed barbecue 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

ngredients (tomato puree, water), tomato asie, cane sugar (processing marker), brown sugar (processing marker), distilled vinegar, salt (processing marker), molasses (processing marker), caramel color, matiural hickory smoke flavor, onion, garlic, lemon juice concentrate, black pepper, paprika, chipotle

Additives: E150c Ammonia caramel

Also detected, but not matched to one ingredient: E150c Ammonia caramel.

As written on the pack

ngredients: organic tomato puree (water, organic tomato asie, organic cane sugar, organic brown sugar, organic distilled vinegar, salt, organic molasses, organic caramel color, matiural hickory smoke flavor, organic onion powder, organic garlic powder, organic lemon juice concentrate, organic black pepper, organic paprika, organic chipotle powder

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.

E150c Ammonia caramel Ammonia caramel is a brown colour made by heating sugars with ammonia compounds.

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 107 barbecue sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 19th. 86% of the barbecue 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 107 barbecue sauces, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00634861, last edited 26 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.