Sainsbury's Puttanesca Pasta Sauce: nutrition, salt and what the label does not tell you

A standard serving of Sainsbury's Puttanesca Pasta Sauce (88g) contains 48 kcal, 1.06g of salt and 3.26g of sugar. It is classified as NOVA 4 — ultra-processed food under the NOVA food processing system.

Try it: nutrition calculator

Choose a brand, sauce and serving size. Compare salt, sugar and NOVA processing level across brands and own-label alternatives.

Nutrition by serving

Sainsbury's Puttanesca Pasta Sauce contains 54 kcal, 2.9g of fat (0.4g saturated), 5.4g of carbohydrate (3.7g sugar), 1.4g of protein and 1.2g of salt per 100g.

Sainsbury's Puttanesca is formulated closely to Tesco's equivalent. Both use 1% anchovy, both are NOVA 4 from modified starch and citric acid, and both are 3–4 kcal per 100g lower in calories than branded equivalents. The olive content (6%) is slightly lower than branded sauces.

NOVA food processing classification

Sainsbury's Puttanesca Pasta Sauce is classified as NOVA 4 — ultra-processed food under the NOVA food processing system.

The following industrial additives are present in its ingredient list: modified maize starch. These ingredients are not present in a home-made equivalent of this sauce — they are used to achieve a consistent texture, extended shelf life, and flavour stability at industrial scale.

NOVA 4 classification does not automatically mean a food is harmful. The NHS Eatwell Guide does not use NOVA classifications, and processed convenience foods can form part of a balanced diet. The significance of the NOVA classification is that it gives a shorthand for identifying foods that have been engineered rather than cooked — useful context when evaluating the ingredient list alongside the nutrition numbers.

Supermarket own-brand pasta sauces are almost universally NOVA 4 — the modified maize starch and citric acid present in this sauce appear across virtually all ambient pasta sauces regardless of brand or price point. The NOVA classification is determined by the formulation of the product, not by its retail price or own-brand status.

Salt

Sainsbury's Puttanesca Pasta Sauce contains 1.2g of salt per 100g. A quarter-jar serving (88g) delivers 1.06g of salt, 18% of the adult daily limit of 6g.

The 2010 FSA voluntary salt reduction target for pasta sauce is 1.1g per 100g. At 1.2g per 100g, this product exceeds that target.

Sugar and added sugar

Sainsbury's Puttanesca Pasta Sauce contains 3.7g of sugar per 100g. A quarter-jar serving (88g) delivers 3.26g of sugar. Tomatoes contain natural sugar (fructose), so some sugar content in any tomato-based sauce is expected. The key question is whether additional sugar has been added beyond what the tomatoes themselves provide.

The ingredient list for Sainsbury's Puttanesca Pasta Sauce includes added sugar. Tomatoes at peak ripeness contain around 2.5g to 3g of natural sugar per 100g — any total sugar content meaningfully above that reflects added sugar in the recipe. The amount of added sugar is not required to be declared separately on UK food labels, making it impossible to determine from the nutrition panel alone how much of the stated sugar is natural versus added.

Ingredients

Allergens at a glance

Frequently asked questions

Know what you are eating

Nutrition from official brand UK labels (Dolmio UK, Loyd Grossman UK, Sacla' UK, Napolina UK, Barilla UK), Action on Salt pasta sauce and pesto surveys (2009, 2017), Which? blind taste test 2023 (pesto), MadeForMums independent analysis, and UK supermarket product listings. NOVA classifications from ingredient lists at time of writing. For guidance only, not medical advice.