Is Waitrose British beef balls ultra-processed?

300g Meat balls Sold in the United Kingdom and France

It's processed, but not ultra-processed

1 Unprocessed
2 Kitchen staple
3 Processed
4 Ultra-processed

Whole foods combined with:

Salt
Starch

9 ingredients
2 additives
Nutri-Score C

Less processed meat preparations

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

British beef 95%, potato starch (processing marker), sea salt (processing marker), black pepper, garlic, onion, antioxidant (ascorbic acid), rosemary extract

Additives: E300 Ascorbic acid , E392 Extracts of rosemary

As written on the pack

British beef (95%), potato starch, sea salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder,antioxidant (ascorbic acid), rosemary extract

What makes it processed

Culinary ingredients

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.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 47 meat balls

From least to most processed, this one ranks 12th. 74% of the meat balls 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 47 meat balls, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5000169062814, last edited 23 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.