Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Trader Joe's sliced UNCURED PEPPERONI ultra-processed?

5 oz Sausages Sold in the United States

Pack of Trader Joe's sliced UNCURED PEPPERONI

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:

  • 14 ingredients
  • No additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed sausages

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

Pork, sea salt, mustard seed, sugar, salt, paprika, garlic powder, natural flavors, paprika, Swiss chard, dextrose, acerola cherry powder, lactic acid starter culture, garlic

As written on the pack

Pork, sea salt, mustard seed, sugar, salt, extractives of paprika, garlic powder, natural flavors, paprika, cultured Swiss chard powder, dextrose, acerola cherry powder, lactic acid starter culture, garlic.

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.

  • 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.

  • Dextrose Dextrose is pure glucose crystallised from starch-derived syrup.
  • Glucose Glucose, usually listed as glucose syrup, is cheap, keeps products moist and stops sugar from crystallising.
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.

  • Prepared meats Products in the category "Prepared meats" are at least group 3.
  • Sausages Products in the category "Sausages" are at least group 3.
  • Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 337 sausages

From least to most processed, this one ranks 175th. 80% of the sausages 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 337 sausages, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00769051, last edited 13 July 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.