Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Waitrose No1 Sicilian Lemon Tart ultra-processed?

530g Fruit tarts Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Waitrose No1 Sicilian Lemon Tart

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:

  • 35 ingredients
  • 7 additives
  • Nutri-Score E

Less processed sweet pies

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

Whipping cream, lemon curd (sugar, free range egg, butter, water, concentrated Sicilian lemon juice 8%, gelling agent (agar), flavouring, acidity regulator (citric acid)), fortified wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin), sugar, butter, water, free range egg, acidity regulators (citric acid, sodium citrates), wheat glucose-fructose syrup, palm oil, cornflour, palm kernel oil, maize dextrose, gelling agent (pectins), flavouring, thickening agent (locust bean gum)

Additives: E170 Calcium carbonates , E170i Calcium carbonate , E330 Citric acid , E331 Sodium citrates , E406 Agar , E410 Locust bean gum , E440 Pectins

As written on the pack

Whipping cream (milk), lemon curd (sugar, pasteurised free range egg, butter (milk), water, concentrated Sicilian lemon juice (8%), gelling agent (agar), flavouring, acidity regulator (citric acid)), fortified wheat flour (wheat flour, calcium carbonate, iron, niacin, thiamin), sugar, butter (milk), water, pasteurised free range egg, acidity regulators (citric acid, sodium citrates), wheat glucose-fructose syrup, palm oil, cornflour, palm kernel oil, maize dextrose, gelling agent (pectins), flavouring, thickening agent (locust bean 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.

  • E170 Calcium carbonates Calcium carbonate is chalk.
  • E406 Agar A food additive used to dissolve, dilute, disperse or otherwise physically modify a food additive or nutrient without altering its function -and without exerting any technological effect itself- in order to facilitate its handling, application or use of the food additive or nutrient.
  • E410 Locust bean gum Locust bean gum (carob gum) is a thickener and stabiliser from the seeds of the carob tree.
  • E440 Pectins Pectins are gelling agents extracted from citrus peel or apple pomace.
  • Flavouring Flavourings are concentrated aroma preparations that add or intensify a taste.
  • Gelling agent Gelling agents such as pectin, gelatine or carrageenan set liquids into gels and stabilise textures.
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  • Thickener Thickeners, often gums or modified starches, make liquids more viscous so that a product feels richer than its ingredients alone would make it.

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.
  • Fructose Fructose is the sugar found naturally in fruit and honey, but as an ingredient it is refined industrially, mostly from corn starch.
2 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.

  • Butter Butter, the fat churned from cream.
  • Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 8 fruit tarts

From least to most processed, this one ranks 6th. 100% of the fruit tarts 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 8 fruit tarts, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5000169387924, 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 E (from A, best, to E).
  • General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.