Is Waitrose Ploughman's Pickle ultra-processed?

310g Pickles 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:

Colour
E150a Plain caramel

24 ingredients
1 additive
Nutri-Score D

Less processed pickles

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

Sugar (processing marker), carrot 14%, water, swede 9%, onion 7%, barley malt vinegar, spirit vinegar, cauliflower florets 5%, date paste (dates, rice flour), colour (ultra-processing marker) (plain caramel (ultra-processing marker)), bramley apple purée, tomato paste, cornflour, gherkins, salt (processing marker), lemon juice, garlic purée, ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom

Additives: E150a Plain caramel

As written on the pack

Sugar, carrot (14%), water, swede (9%), onion (7%) barley malt vinegar, spirit vinegar, cauliflower florets (5%), date paste (dates, rice flour), colour (plain caramel), bramley apple purée, tomato paste, cornflour, gherkins, salt, lemon juice, garlic purée, ginger purée, ground cinnamon, black pepper, ground cardamom.

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.

E150a Plain caramel Plain caramel is a brown colour made by heating sugars.
Colour Colours are added to restore colour lost in processing or to make a product look more appealing.

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.

Salt Salt, added for taste and preservation.
Sugar Sugar refined from sugar cane or beet.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 312 pickles

From least to most processed, this one ranks 264th. 33% of the pickles 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 312 pickles, least processed first

About this information

Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5000169550427, 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 D (from A, best, to E).
General information, not medical or dietary advice. Check the pack if you have an allergy.