Is it ultra-processed?
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Is Waitrose Spaghetti Carbonara ultra-processed?

400 g Spaghetti Sold in the United Kingdom

Pack of Waitrose Spaghetti Carbonara

It's processed, but not ultra-processed

  1. 1 Unprocessed
  2. 2 Kitchen staple
  3. 3 Processed
  4. 4 Ultra-processed

Whole foods combined with:

  • 20 ingredients
  • 3 additives
  • Nutri-Score C

Less processed spaghetti

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

Water, durum wheat semolina, milk, pork 7%, mature Cheddar cheese, free range egg, Crana Padano cheese, double cream, single cream, rapeseed oil, onion, cornflour, salt, black pepper, garlic puree, preservatives (sodium nitrite, potassium nitrate), antioxidant (sodium ascorbate)

Additives: E250 Sodium nitrite , E252 Potassium nitrate , E301 Sodium ascorbate

As written on the pack

Water, durum wheat semolina, milk, pork - 7%, mature Cheddar cheese, pasteurised free range egg, Crana Padano cheese, double cream, single cream, rapeseed oil, onion, cornflour, salt, black pepper, garlic puree, preservatives sodium nitrite and potassium nitrate, antioxidant sodium ascorbate

What makes it processed

Processed ingredients

Processed foods in their own right, such as cheese or milk powder.

  • Cheese Cheese is milk preserved with salt, cultures and rennet.

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.

Preservation and traditional processing

Keep food safe or ferment it, like preservatives and cultures. A sign of processing, not ultra-processing.

  • E250 Sodium nitrite Preservatives are substances which prolong the shelf-life of foods by protecting them against deterioration caused by micro-organisms and/or which protect against growth of pathogenic micro-organisms.
  • E252 Potassium nitrate Preservatives are substances which prolong the shelf-life of foods by protecting them against deterioration caused by micro-organisms and/or which protect against growth of pathogenic micro-organisms.
  • Preservative Preservatives slow spoilage by microbes.

Category rules

Open Food Facts puts every product in this category in at least this group.

  • Meals Products in the category "Meals" are at least group 3.

How the NOVA groups work

Among 81 spaghetti

From least to most processed, this one ranks 66th. 19% of the spaghetti 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 81 spaghetti, least processed first

About this information

  • Data from this product on Open Food Facts (barcode 5000169140116, 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.