Is it ultra-processed?
Menu

Is Waitrose & Partners 6 Vegetable Spring Rolls ultra-processed?

Frozen ready-made meals Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Waitrose & Partners 6 Vegetable Spring Rolls

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:

  • 42 ingredients
  • 1 additive
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed frozen ready-made 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

Vegetables 52% (carrot, beansprouts, red pepper, water chestnut, mushroom, soya beans), wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin), rapeseed oil, rice flour, rice noodles (rice flour, water), ginger, garlic purée, water, potato starch, sesame seed oil, sugar, salt, red chilli, dextrose, spices, wheat, white pepper, stabiliser (hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose), maize starch, onion powder, rice starch, cane molasses, carrot juice from concentrate, yeast extract, rice koji, maltodextrin, black pepper, mushroom powder

Additives: E464 Hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose

As written on the pack

Vegetables (52%) (carrot, beansprouts, red pepper, water chestnut, mushroom, soya beans), wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin), rapeseed oil, rice flour, rice noodles (rice flour, water), ginger purée, garlic purée, water, potato starch, sesame seed oil, sugar, salt, red chilli, dextrose, spices, wheat, white pepper, stabiliser (hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose), maize starch, onion powder, rice starch, cane molasses, carrot juice from concentrate, yeast extract, rice koji, maltodextrin, black pepper, mushroom 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.

  • E464 Hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose Emulsifiers are substances which make it possible to form or maintain a homogenous mixture of two or more immiscible phases such as oil and water in a foodstuff.

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.
  • Maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a white powder made by partly breaking down starch.
5 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.
  • Starch Starch extracted from cereals or potatoes, used to thicken.
  • 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 84 frozen ready-made meals

From least to most processed, this one ranks 62nd. 69% of the frozen ready-made 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 84 frozen ready-made meals, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5063210026401, last edited 21 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 C (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.