Is lamb mince curry ultra-processed?

Not when made with a homemade spice mix. This recipe uses cumin, cinnamon, and mixed herbs — all NOVA 1 unprocessed spices — plus lamb dripping (NOVA 2) as the cooking fat. Zero UPF markers. Patak’s Korma jar sauce, by contrast, contains whey protein concentrate (a UPF marker used as a thickener) and 15 ingredients.

Is Patak’s curry sauce ultra-processed?

SpikeSaver classifies Patak’s Mild Korma as Likely NOVA 4 due to the whey protein concentrate (a protein isolate UPF marker). It also contains modified maize starch and 15 ingredients total. It’s one of the milder jar sauces in our analysis — only 1 UPF marker — but still a step up from homemade spices.

Glucose: Low12 ingredients

Lamb Mince Recipe — Ingredient Analysis: NOVA Scores, Hidden Sugars & Glucose Impact

We analysed every ingredient in this spiced lamb mince recipe. 12 whole ingredients with a homemade spice mix. The jar curry sauce alternative adds whey protein concentrate and 15 ingredients.

Original recipe by

Easy Spiced Savoury Lamb Mince & Veg by Helen Best-Shaw at Fuss Free Flavours · @fussfreeflavours

SpikeSaver Ingredient Analysis

Ingredient	Qty	NOVA	Hidden Sugars	Glucose	Protein
Onion	1, diced	NOVA 1	None	Low	1.5g
Garlic	2 cloves	NOVA 1	None	Negligible	—
Celery	1 stick	NOVA 1	None	Negligible	0.5g
Lamb dripping	15g	NOVA 2	None	Negligible	—
Mixed herbs	2 tsp	NOVA 1	None	Negligible	—
Cumin	1 tsp	NOVA 1	None	Negligible	—
Cinnamon	1/2 tsp	NOVA 1	None	Negligible	—
Minced lamb	450g	NOVA 1	None	Negligible	90g
Flour	2 tbsp	NOVA 2	None	Low	1.6g
Tomato puree	2 tbsp	NOVA 3	None	Low	1.4g
Stock	425ml	NOVA 2	None	Negligible	—
Frozen mixed vegetables	250g	NOVA 1	None	Low	6g

Per serving (4 servings)

340

Calories

25.3g

Protein

18g

Carbs

18g

Fat

Fibre

Overall verdict

Mostly NOVA 1–2 with NOVA 3 tomato puree0 hidden sugarsGlucose: Low

A traditional British comfort dish using a homemade spice mix (cumin, cinnamon, mixed herbs) instead of a packet. Zero hidden sugars, zero UPF markers. The lamb dripping is a traditional NOVA 2 cooking fat. Every ingredient is recognisable.

The swap comparison

What happens when you swap from-scratch ingredients for shop-bought shortcuts?

Homemade spice mix (cumin, cinnamon, herbs) + stock

→

Pataks Mild Korma Sauce 450G

Likely NOVA 41 UPF marker1 sugar alias15 ingredients

Lens	From Scratch	Shop-Bought	Delta
NOVA/UPF	NOVA 1–2, 0 UPF markers	Likely NOVA 4, 1 UPF marker (whey protein concentrate)	+1 UPF marker; protein isolate used as thickener
Hidden Sugar	0 sugar aliases	1 alias (sugar)	+1 hidden sugar in a savoury sauce
Glucose Impact	Low (spices are negligible)	5.5g sugar/100g, 9.3g carbs/100g	Moderate sugar from jar sauce
Protein/Macros	12 ingredients, all recognisable	1.5g protein, 0.61g salt, 98kcal, 15 ingredients	15 vs 12 ingredients; whey protein adds trace protein as a byproduct of thickening

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