Is Waitrose Balti Sauce ultra-processed?

Sold in the United Kingdom

Yes, it's ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Signs of ultra-processing in its ingredients:

Modified starch

30 ingredients
1 additive
Nutri-Score C

Ingredients

Ultra-processing Processing signs are highlighted

Water, tomatoes 14%, green peppers 6%, concentrated tomato purée 5%, dried onions, rapeseed oil, garlic purée, ginger, sugar (processing marker), modified maize starch (ultra-processing marker), salt (processing marker), paprika, fennel 0.4%, turmeric, cinnamon, acidity regulator (citric acid), coriander 0.1%, cumin seeds 0.1%, kalonji seeds 0.1%, fennel seeds 0.1%, dred coriander leaf 0.1%, chilli, cumin 0.1%, black pepper, ground ginger, fenugreek, clove, dried fenugreek eat ground cardamom, nutmeg

Additives: E330 Citric acid

As written on the pack

Water, tomatoes (14%), green peppers (6%), concentrated tomato purée (5%), dried onions, rapeseed oil, garlic purée, ginger purée, sugar, modified maize starch, salt, ground paprika, ground fennel (0.4%), ground turmeric, ground cinnamon, acidity regulator (citric acid), ground coriander (0.1%), cumin seeds (0.1%), kalonji seeds (0.1%), fennel seeds (0.1%) dred coriander leaf (0.1%), ground chilli, ground cumin (0.1%), ground black pepper, ground ginger, ground fenugreek, ground clove, dried fenugreek eat ground cardamom, ground nutmeg

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.

Modified starch Modified starch is starch altered physically, with enzymes or chemically, so that it thickens, gels or survives freezing and heating better than ordinary starch.

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

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5000169619766, last edited 27 March 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.