Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Trader Joe's Thai style yellow curry sauce ultra-processed?

312g Curry sauces Sold in the United States

Pack of Trader Joe's Thai style yellow curry 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:

  • 24 ingredients
  • 2 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed curry 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

water, canola oil, sugar, coconut milk (coconut, sodium caseinate), garlic, onion, coconut milk, salt, contains 2% and less of (ginger), red chili, cornstarch, spices, whey, onion, garlic, citric acid, dextrose, inulin (chicory root), natural flavor, xanthan gum

Additives: E330 Citric acid , E415 Xanthan gum

As written on the pack

water, canola oil, sugar, dehydrated coconut milk (coconut, sodium caseinate [milk]), garlic, onion, coconut milk, salt, contains 2% or less of: ginger, red chili, cornstarch, spices, cultured whey (milk), onion and garlic powder, citric acid, cultured dextrose, inulin (chicory root), natural flavor, xanthan gum,

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.

  • E415 Xanthan gum Xanthan gum is a thickener made by fermenting sugar with the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
  • 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.
  • Whey Whey is the liquid left over from cheese making, usually dried into a powder and used as a cheap source of milk solids, protein and lactose.
  • Vegetable fiber Isolated plant fibres, such as inulin, oat fibre or bamboo fibre, are extracted industrially and added to change texture or support "source of fibre" claims.
3 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.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 89 curry sauces

From least to most processed, this one ranks 86th. 67% of the curry 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 89 curry sauces, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 00785570, last edited 3 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.