Safe

CHICKEN & CHEESE TAMALES

by Trader Joe's

Open Food Facts label for barcode 00012942 · Trader Joe's · Sandwiches. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.

Barcode 00012942

The verdict

CHICKEN & CHEESE TAMALES by Trader Joe's scores 95/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 26 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 1 ingredient is flagged for caution. The 26-component label is layered, beginning with Water, Corn Masa Flour, Trace Of Lime. Start with any flagged rows, then check the nutrition grade and serving size instead of treating one roll-up score as the whole decision. This is not a recall, allergy, medical, or dietary-safety determination.

95/100
Safe safety score
1
One flagged · of 26 analyzed
Group 4
Ultra-processed
C
Nutri-Score nutrition grade

Computed directly from OpenFoodFacts ingredient data cross-referenced with FDA SAFFA and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings. See our methodology for the scoring formula.

Composite profile score

One verdict from three independent sources

65/100

Grade B-

Ingredient Safety

95/100

FDA/CSPI flagged-ingredient screening

Processing Level

NOVA 4

Ultra-processed foods

Nutrition Grade

C

Nutri-Score front-of-pack nutrition grade

Weighted 50% ingredient safety / 25% processing level / 25% nutrition grade. A dimension with no data for this product (common: source coverage is partial) is dropped and its weight redistributes across the remaining dimensions, so missing data never silently lowers the score. See the full benchmark table.

00012942 · Open Food Facts · July 2026

CHICKEN & CHEESE TAMALES label screening desk

SCORE-SAFE 95/100 FLAG-ONE 1 flagged LEN-LAYERED 26 ing. REG-SPARSE 19% reg. NOVA-G4 G4 ultra NUTRI-C Nutri-C RANK-LONG Len top 89% LEAD-FLAG Carrageenan PHOTO-FINISH Maple & Brown · ±0 BOOK-OFF …012942 · July 2026

5 of 26 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Carrageenan). Source sheet 00012942 · Open Food Facts · July 2026. The screening score and flag counts are in the verdict band above. This desk is the provenance stamp, not a second scorecard. Methodology · Read with nearest score peer: Maple & Brown Sugar Instant Oatmeal · Nearest score peer is Maple & Brown Sugar Instant Oatmeal at the same screening score.

Screening model notes

How Nutri-Score, NOVA, and list length read this record

Within the four-tier shelf-label framework this site publishes, the composite for this product falls in the highest band. That band is defined by a threshold on the derived score alone: it is where labels land once components carrying caution-or-worse registry ratings contribute little or nothing to the deduction. The band is a summary of what the screened registries return for the components that were parsed, so it inherits their coverage gaps — a component absent from both registries neither raises nor lowers the figure. The threshold and the weighting behind it are set out on the methodology page.

Nutri-Score settled on its middle grade here, the band the algorithm produces when the penalty and credit sides of its nutrient ledger come out close to balanced. A mid-scale grade is a statement about the panel as a whole rather than about any single nutrient, and products arrive at it by very different routes: a moderate profile across every term, or high marks on some offset by heavy penalties on others. The grade is computed separately from the ingredient screen below and the two are not comparable measures.

This label parsed into a long component list. Where many entries are screened at once, the composite tends to reflect the overall mix of registry ratings returned rather than the rating of any one entry. Longer declarations also carry more sub-listed and compound entries, where a parenthetical group is resolved into its parts, so the parsed count can exceed what a reader counts on the packaging.

Cross-brand screening score neighbourhood

1. CHICKEN & CHEESE TAMALES: 95/100 · 100% of the leader · rank #11. CHICKEN & CHEESE TAMALES95/1002. Maple & Brown Sugar Instant Oatmeal: 95/100 · 100% of the leader · rank #22. Maple & Brown Sugar Insta…95/1003. Evaporated milk: 95/100 · 100% of the leader · rank #33. Evaporated milk95/1004. Evaporated Milk / Leche Evaporada: 95/100 · 100% of the leader · rank #44. Evaporated Milk / Leche E…95/1005. Pecan Turtle Delight: 95/100 · 100% of the leader · rank #55. Pecan Turtle Delight95/100
High-band neighbours for CHICKEN & CHEESE TAMALES (95/100) outside Trader Joe's.
Chart values as text

Unit: PlainFoodSafe screening score out of 100. Data current as of July 2026.

CHICKEN & CHEESE TAMALES
95/100
Maple & Brown Sugar Instant Oatmeal
95/100
Evaporated milk
95/100
Evaporated Milk / Leche Evaporada
95/100
Pecan Turtle Delight
95/100

How It Compares to Its Category

Among the 1,373 products we've scored in the Sandwiches category, the average safety score is 88.9/100. CHICKEN & CHEESE TAMALES scores 6.1 points above that category average (95/100 vs. 88.9/100), so it is a comparatively strong pick for shoppers screening within that category specifically, rather than against the product catalog as a whole.

Ingredient-list length vs other Sandwiches products

CHICKEN & CHEESE TAMALES lists 26 ingredients on its label

26 11th percentile a longer ingredient list than 11% of the 1,215 products we track

0–2: 1 products (0%). Below this entry. 2–4: 3 products (0%). Below this entry. 4–6: 4 products (0%). Below this entry. 6–8: 3 products (0%). Below this entry. 8–10: 6 products (0%). Below this entry. 10–12: 4 products (0%). Below this entry. 12–14: 11 products (1%). Below this entry. 14–16: 12 products (1%). Below this entry. 16–18: 22 products (2%). Below this entry. 18–20: 18 products (1%). Below this entry. 20–22: 17 products (1%). Below this entry. 22–24: 15 products (1%). Below this entry. 24–26: 16 products (1%). Below this entry. 26–28: 21 products (2%). This entry sits in this band. 28–30: 32 products (3%). Above this entry. 30–32: 28 products (2%). Above this entry. 32–34: 44 products (4%). Above this entry. 34–36: 26 products (2%). Above this entry. 36–38: 56 products (5%). Above this entry. 38–40: 44 products (4%). Above this entry. 40–42: 832 products (68%). Above this entry. This product 0 42 every published Sandwiches product, bucketed by value

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more products. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Distribution as text

1,215 products, bucketed in bands of 2. This entry: 26 (11th percentile). Data current as of July 2026.

0–2
1 products (0%)
2–4
3 products (0%)
4–6
4 products (0%)
6–8
3 products (0%)
8–10
6 products (0%)
10–12
4 products (0%)
12–14
11 products (1%)
14–16
12 products (1%)
16–18
22 products (2%)
18–20
18 products (1%)
20–22
17 products (1%)
22–24
15 products (1%)
24–26
16 products (1%)
26–28
21 products (2%)
28–30
32 products (3%)
30–32
28 products (2%)
32–34
44 products (4%)
34–36
26 products (2%)
36–38
56 products (5%)
38–40
44 products (4%)
40 and above
832 products (68%)

Source Open Food Facts, product label ingredient lists · July 2026

Ingredient-list length is a descriptive property of the label, not a safety rating. A longer list is not automatically worse and a shorter one is not automatically better; the count is shown so the label can be placed against a comparable population. The comparison here runs against the 1,215 Sandwiches products we publish with a parsed label, not against the whole catalogue, because list length varies far more between categories than within one.

Full Ingredient List

Water, Corn Masa Flour (Corn Masa Flour, Trace of Lime), Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, Vegetable Oil (Canola Oil and/or Soybean Oil), Corn, Cheddar Cheese (Pasteurized Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Microbial Enzyme, Annatto Extract [for Color]), Roasted Red Bell Peppers, Masa Seasoning Blend (Salt, Spices), Chicken Seasoning Blend (Spices, Salt, Garlic Powder, Sugar), Green Chiles, Modified Cornstarch, Cornstarch, Cilantro, Salt, Carrageenan.

Categories

Sandwiches

High-score cross-brand comparables for CHICKEN & CHEESE TAMALES

Neighbours outside Trader Joe's with screening scores in the same high band as CHICKEN & CHEESE TAMALES (95/100 here). The 5 same-brand links above stay within Trader Joe's; these peers cross brands.

Follow the flagged-label evidence

Follow the flagged-label evidence

Carrageenan is the first flagged ingredient selected from CHICKEN & CHEESE TAMALES's parsed label. Start with that ingredient’s source context, then compare the rest of this 26-ingredient record.

  • Inspect the FDA SAFFA and CSPI context attached to Carrageenan. Open Carrageenan
  • Compare CHICKEN & CHEESE TAMALES's 1 flagged ingredients with a product from the same score neighbourhood. Compare labels
  • Check how caution flags contribute to the derived screening score before drawing a dietary conclusion. Read the method

This page describes published ingredient-list and source coverage. It is not dietary or medical advice.

Barcode 00012942: product data from Open Food Facts (July 2026). Screening from FDA SAFFA and CSPI Chemical Cuisine where attached. Figures are computed from those sources, not editor-typed. Methodology. Reference only, not dietary or medical advice.