Surprised by how few ingredients are in Dolmio?

[Lonutay]

I just had a look at the ingredients list for Dolmio, and it looks like there's no nasties in it at all. That being said, I suppose it still counts as a UPF? Can it still be really bad for you if the ingredients are all natural ingredients?

Ingredients
Tomatoes (80%), Double Concentrated Tomato Paste (8.3%), Onion, Sugar, Modified Maize Starch, Salt, Sunflower Oil, Basil, Garlic, Acidity Regulator (Citric Acid), Parsley, Spice, Herb

Which tinned toms do you buy? I find tinned tomatoes so bitter/acidic, I always add a pinch of sugar.

Oh dear lord, not the maize starch faints

This!

my mum and gran have used corn flour in their sauces as thickening since the early 1900’s! Cornflour is still maize starch.

lemon juice too is a bog standard ingredient.

It’s just cornflour. So not “natural”, but nothing unusual.

Edited to add: as others have pointed out already.

Everything was something natural to begin with - it's the 'modified' which makes it clear it's not natural any more.

How embarrassing for you.

We just get a jar of passata OP for about a third of the price and use that. I want to save my sugar allowance for sweet stuff! Most jarred sauces are full of sugar and salt which is why I generally avoid them.

Citric acid is what is in lemon juice

The citric acid added to food and drinks has probably been manufactured but it'll be chemically identical ... probably significantly purer than trying to get it out of a lemon.

i suspect the citric acid acidifies the tomato. On its own, tomato is not acidic enough for quick canning and would require a longer processing time. I can tomatoes and add lemon juice to acidify. The difference is boil for 20 rather than 60 to process

Open a jar of Dolmio, cook a quick dinner, enjoy your evening, possibly go to bed earlier, read my book and get more sleep.
I think the long term consequences of that sort of evening (for me at least) are far better than sweating about whatever's in a jar of tomato sauce.

Mind you, we're having toad in the hole tonight so we've hit the UPF jackpot.

I grew up in the 70 and 80s where some of what we ate could barely be classified as food, ultra processed or otherwise. I know that's not an argument for not caring about what I eat now, but we're doing OK.

"Modified" just means it has been treated with something like an enzyme or an acid to make it more usable. It doesn't become some nasty, toxic chemical in food that must be avoided.

Modified maize starch = cornflour
Acidity regulator (citric acid) = lemon juice

You'll be cooking your pasta in dihydrogen monoxide next.

😂

And? So what. I said I never use it in my homemade tomato sauce. And if there is citrus in the tomato, which is of course a fruit, it is natural, so I have no idea what your point is.

Well said.

Context is everything.

Enjoy your TITH. We're having bolognese, which I cooked last night, turned off the heat at 10.30 and left it out overnight before putting in the fridge this morning. Another massive MN no-no, which apparently will kill me and everyone who comes within 5 metres of it.

Here is a review of tomato sauces from the Torygraph, some have no UPF ingredients

Tesco Hearty Food Co. Tomato & Herb Pasta Sauce
47p for 440g (11p/100g)
UPF ingredients: modified starch, citric acid, saccharin.
Looks semi opaque and flour-thickened and the flavour is minimal; a hint of stale herbs and a horrid claggy texture.
Result: 0 out of 5
Asda Just Essentials Bolognese Sauce
47p for 440g (11p/100g)
UPF ingredients: modified starch, citric acid, saccharin.
Vile. Like a dab of tomato purée mixed with water and cornflour, plus some forgotten old dried herbs.
Result: 0 out of 5
Aldi Everyday Essentials Pasta Sauce
47p for 440g (11p/100g)
UPF ingredients: modified starch, citric acid, saccharin.
Looks terrible, beige orange, exactly as you’d expect flour-thickened tomato sauce to look. Bitter and weirdly glossy.
Result: 0 out of 5
Dolmio Original Bolognese Sauce
£2.50 for 500g at Sainsbury’s (50p/100g)
UPF ingredients: modified starch, citric acid.
This was one of the few sauces that specify to add meat, which given the time that takes, you might as well add a tin of chopped tomatoes instead. It tastes cloying with no complexity or depth, bar a hint of musty herb flavour. You can do so much better at the price.
Result: 1 out of 5
Waitrose & Partners Bolognese Pasta Sauce
£3 for 475g (63p/100g)
UPF ingredients: citric acid.
Shows promising lumps of tomato and cubes of carrot but there’s almost no flavour! Just a bitter afternote.
Result: 1 out of 5
Morrisons Bolognese Pasta Sauce
£1.59 for 725g (22p/100g)
UPF ingredients: modified maize starch.
A bit sickly and too tangy. Not good.
Result: 1 out of 5
Lidl Simply Tomato & Herb Pasta Sauce
39p for 440g (9p/100g)
UPF ingredients: Modified starch, citric acid, saccharin.
Thin and orange. No flavour. Pretty awful but doesn’t have such nasty thickening as some others, which scores it a point.
Result: 1 out of 5
Essential Waitrose & Partners Bolognese Sauce
£1 for 340g (29p/100g)
UPF ingredients: lactic acid.
Quite a lot of tomato skin in this, and the sauce has a dried herb flavour while being quite sharp and vinegary. It tastes thin and metallic, not very balanced on its own, but could be good with very rich meat.
Result: 2 out of 5
Waitrose Duchy Organic Tomato & Chilli Pasta Sauce
£2.50 for 290g (86p/100g)
UPF ingredients: none.
The chilli is lovely but there is not much else going on. Some sweetness but not enough tomato flavour.
Result: 2 out of 5
Crosta & Mollica Fresh Basil & Tomato
£3 for 340g at Waitrose (88p/100g)
UPF ingredients: none.
This is mellow and is on the sweet side, perhaps from the carrots used in the mix. It’s oddly gloopy, despite there being no starch listed as an ingredient, so maybe it’s from the starch in the carrots?
Result: 2 out of 5
Heinz Sundried Cherry Tomato & Basil Sauce
£2 for 350g at Tesco (57p/100g)
UPF ingredients: none but apple juice for sweetener.
Not a rich flavour, just tangy in a sickly way, with hard lumps of veg.
Result: 2 out of 5
De Cecco Sugo alla Napoletana
£2.95 for 400g at Ocado (74p/100g)
UPF ingredients: none.
A bit starchy tasting. Rich but not a lot of flavour and there is a soapy back note. Herbs are restrained though.
Result: 2 out of 5
M&S Food Classic Tomato Everything Sauce
£2.10 for 340g at Ocado (62p/100g)
UPF ingredients: citric acid.
Made in Italy, and it delivers a good, intense, almost caramelised tomato flavour. It doesn’t taste that fresh, though, and there are some hard bits.
Result: 3 out of 5
Lidl Baresa Bolognese Pasta Sauce
49p for 500g (10p/100g)
UPF ingredients: modified maize starch, citric acid.
Gloopy, but looks rich. There is some balance to the flavour; it tastes industrially produced but not terrible at this price.
Result: 3 out of 5
Aldi Specially Selected Cherry Tomato & Chilli Pasta Sauce
£1.49 for 340g (44p/100g)
UPF ingredients: lactic acid, calcium chloride.
Lower in salt than the others and it tastes weirdly under seasoned to me but will suit others well; you can always add a pinch of salt. There’s a big bit of skin and a hard lump of tomato core in the sample I try. I like the pleasing slick of olive oil on top – it’s rich. Vastly better than Dolmio and a lower price.
Result: 3 out of 5
Rustichella d’Abruzzo Pomodoro e Basilico
^£3.99 for 270g from Odysea (£1.47/100g) ^
UPF ingredients: none.
Very mellow. It tastes posh, if a little bit confected. Comes out mild when teamed with pasta; some nice lumps.
Result: 3 out of 5
Mr Organic Bolognese Pasta Sauce
£3 for 350g at Waitrose (86p/100g)
UPF ingredients: none.
No added sugar but still very rich – just a bit too heavy handed with the herbs to eat straight; better with meat.
Result: 3 out of 5
Loyd Grossman Tomato & Basil Sauce
£4.50 for 660g at Ocado (68p/100g)
UPF ingredients: none.
Sweet and confected, but also so savoury I’d have assumed it has anchovies in it. Not much tomato flavour, though the basil comes through. Doesn’t taste artificial. Tiny kick of peppery heat which is nice.
Result: 3 out of 5
Asda Extra Special Bolognese Sauce
£1.80 for 340g (53p/100g)
UPF ingredients: lactic acid.
Lots of umami oomph but that dried herb note is there, too. It tastes a tiny bit soapy on its own but works OK with the pasta.
Result: 3 out of 5
Tesco Bolognese Sauce
95p for 500g (19p/100g)
UPF ingredients: none.
Very tomatoey and quite fresh-tasting, with no musty herb flavour, this is well balanced. The ingredients list is pretty good – it’s got cornflour in, but at least it’s not modified starch.
Result: 4 out of 5
Mutti Pasta Sauce with Rossoro Tomatoes and Parmigiano Reggiano
£3 for 400g at Ocado (75p/100g)
UPF ingredients: “natural flavourings”.
Very parmesan-y, although the sweetness of the tomato comes through. Yummy enough to eat out of the jar but you’d have to like the taste of parmesan.
Result: 4 out of 5
Aldi Cucina Smooth Tomato Sauce
69p for 500g (18p/100g)
UPF ingredients: modified maize starch, citric acid.
Fresh-tasting like a simple homemade sauce, tomatoey in flavour with some nice textured lumps. Versatile enough to be used in lots of different dishes.
Result: 4 out of 5

I should probably clarify that I'm partial to a bit of processed food myself and don't worry too much about it. It's only since I've been feeding DS what we eat that I've started to pay more attention.

Can't say I care too much about my body but I really want to feed DS as well as I can!

I've just seen that Barilla pasta sauces have absolutely nothing but plain food ingredients in them (cannot for the life of me thing of a better way to describe this). Might stock up on those for my lazy evenings.

Some really interesting responses.

The least processed tomato sauces I could find were that were affordable were Heinz ones already mentioned and Waitrose all brand. The mutti ones are tasty but more pricey and I've never bought the crosta ones as they seem to expensive but ingredients look good.

People on MN are mental about UPFs. No one mentioned them a couple of years ago and now it's like they're radioactive waste infiltrating your food.

I've happily used this to save time and energy
Citric acid is lemon juice and maize starch is cornflour which are hardly artificial additives!
Life, and food is all about balance.

Eaten in moderation I'd say it's bordering on Processed rather than Ultra Processed.

There are some foods I wouldn't touch but Dolmio is a perfectly good staple.

I use the Mr Organic pasta sauces from Ocado, I don't mind the ingredients, this is the Roasted Garlic one:
Italian Sun Ripened Tomatoes (87%), Onions, Roasted Garlic (2%), Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Lemon Juice, Sea Salt, Basil, Parsley, Black Pepper and Oregano, All from Organic Agriculture, = Permitted Non-Organic ingredient

I use the Yuka app to give me an indication of how good or bad a convenience product is. I don’t have a jar to test it out but if you can download the app and give it a go.

Yes it’s good to make your own sauce but sometimes I like to have a jar of Dolmio or whatever in the cupboard.

tbf even years ago before anyone had heard of UPFs Mumsnet was still awash with posters implying that if you made supper for your kids with a jar of Loyd Grossman sauce you might as well be feeding them a plate of Paraquat flavoured Monster Munch for tea.

Much nonsense was talked about how "you can make a delicious cheap and healthy pasta sauce with an onion and a tin of tomatoes in less time than it would take to go to the cupboard and open a jar".

A pinch of sugar works well.

Just take the radioactive out of this, and you are not far wrong. And I do not think that being concerned about UPFs means that someone is being "mental". It is down to people if they care about the level that they consume or not.

I think it is more the misinformation that people spout about UPF on here that annoys. Just because a jar of something has a tiny amount ingredient that may be classed as UPF it doesn't mean that the end product is UPF. Some people on here lump a simple pasta sauce containing a very small amount of a UPF such as modified maize starch in the same category as billy bear ham or pot noodle. When it clearly is worlds apart. It just shows that some people going on about UPF really don't know what they are talking about and it's really tiresome for others

Ok@rainbowunicorn .