Is gravy ultra-processed?

Granules are group 4. Gravy made in the pan is group 3. The gap between them is unusually wide for two things called the same word.

What is in granules

A tub of granules is typically maltodextrin or modified starch as the base, palm or hydrogenated fat, flavour enhancers, flavourings, colours and salt. It is a formulation designed to become gravy on contact with water, and almost none of it is an ingredient anybody keeps separately.

Stock cubes and liquid stocks are the same shape of product and are almost all group 4, which is worth knowing because they are how a group 4 ingredient most often gets into otherwise homemade cooking. It does not make the finished dish group 4: NOVA classifies the product you buy, not what you cook with it.

• Pan juices thickened with flour, or with a splash of wine: group 3.
• Fresh liquid stock with a short list: group 3.
• Granules, powders, cubes and most jarred gravies: group 4.
• Ready-made chilled gravy varies; the list decides it.

Working this out from a receipt is harder than from a packet, because a till prints about twenty characters of product name and no ingredients list. That is the problem Bagged exists to solve, and how a receipt is structured explains why it is the hard part.