Protein Smoothie
by Kroger
Scores 70/100 on FDA SAFFA + CSPI ingredient analysis , with 2 flagged ingredients identified.
The verdict
Protein Smoothie by Kroger scores 70/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 22 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 2 ingredients are flagged for caution. The 22-component label is layered, beginning with Water, Milk Protein Concentrate, Milk Protein Isolate. 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.
- 70/100
- Caution safety score
- 2
- flagged ingredients of 22 analyzed
- Group 4
- Ultra-processed
- A
- 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.
What the Data Says About Protein Smoothie
Protein Smoothie by Kroger carries a composite safety score of 70/100, which we classify as "Caution" on our four-tier shelf-label framework.
Of the 22 ingredients parsed from this label, 7 are covered by a regulator or watchdog we screen against (Vegetable Juice, Acesulfame Potassium, Sucralose and 4 others), with 6 carrying an FDA Substances Added to Food (SAFFA) status and 5 a CSPI Chemical Cuisine rating. The remaining 15 ingredients appear in neither registry, so they neither raise nor lower the score. Each additive rated caution-or-worse penalizes the composite. Product data originates from the OpenFoodFacts collaborative catalog; safety annotations come from federal regulators and the Center for Science in the Public Interest. This score is a transparent derived index we compute from that public data, not an official FDA rating or endorsement; see the Methodology page for the exact weighting.
Our scan identified 2 flagged ingredients in this product, components that at least one official source has classified as requiring caution, targeted avoidance, or further evaluation. Flagged ingredients are the items most likely to surface in FDA inspection findings, state-level ingredient bans, or outbreak-related recall notices, so the per-ingredient breakdown below is the most useful lens for anyone screening this product for a specific dietary concern.
On the NOVA processing scale, Protein Smoothie is classified as Group 4 (Ultra-processed). NOVA measures industrial processing intensity rather than ingredient-level safety, so it complements the SAFFA and CSPI ratings: a product can be clean on additive flags but heavily processed, or lightly processed but carry individually flagged ingredients. Combining both lenses gives a fuller picture than either alone.
How the three scores on this page were derived
The composite for this product falls in the second band of the four-tier framework. That band collects labels whose registry-rated components pull the derived score down measurably without dominating it. Position inside a band is not visible from the band name, and two labels sharing it can differ in how many components were rated and how severely. This is a threshold on an index computed here from public data, not a regulatory classification of any kind; the exact cut-offs are published on the methodology page.
Nutri-Score placed this label in its highest band. The model reaches that grade when the credit side of its ledger — fibre, protein and the fruit, vegetable and legume fraction — outweighs the energy, sugar, saturated-fat and sodium it counts against a product. The scale is computed per hundred grams from the declared nutrition panel, which is why two products with similar ingredients can grade differently on portion-heavy categories. It is a nutritional summary only, calculated independently of the additive registries screened further down this page, and it neither incorporates nor contradicts them.
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.
Safety Profile at a Glance
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| PlainFoodSafe Score | 70/100 | FDA SAFFA + CSPI composite |
| Flagged ingredients | 2 | CSPI/FDA review |
| NOVA processing group | Group 4 | OpenFoodFacts |
| Nutri-Score | A | OpenFoodFacts |
Composite metric derived from FDA SAFFA, CSPI Chemical Cuisine, OpenFoodFacts. See methodology.
How It Compares to Its Category
Among the 23,001 products we've scored in the Dairies category, the average safety score is 97.8/100. Protein Smoothie scores 27.8 points below that category average (70/100 vs. 97.8/100), so it is a comparatively weaker pick for shoppers screening within that category specifically, rather than against the product catalog as a whole.
Ingredient-list length vs other Dairies products
Protein Smoothie lists 22 ingredients on its label
22 94th percentile a longer ingredient list than 94% of the 21,438 products we track
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
- 0–2
- 120 products (1%)
- 2–4
- 2,801 products (13%)
- 4–6
- 4,714 products (22%)
- 6–8
- 2,694 products (13%)
- 8–10
- 1,997 products (9%)
- 10–12
- 1,879 products (9%)
- 12–14
- 1,735 products (8%)
- 14–16
- 1,640 products (8%)
- 16–18
- 1,263 products (6%)
- 18–20
- 840 products (4%)
- 20–22
- 486 products (2%)
- 22–24
- 303 products (1%)
- 24–26
- 227 products (1%)
- 26–28
- 152 products (1%)
- 28–30
- 122 products (1%)
- 30–32
- 115 products (1%)
- 32–34
- 80 products (0%)
- 34–36
- 58 products (0%)
- 36–38
- 45 products (0%)
- 38–40
- 33 products (0%)
- 40 and above
- 134 products (1%)
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 21,438 Dairies products we publish with a parsed label, not against the whole catalogue, because list length varies far more between categories than within one.
Ingredient Safety Analysis
Full Ingredient List
Water, milk protein concentrate, milk protein isolate, cream, skim milk, raspberries, modified corn starch, salt, natural flavor, vegetable juice (color), citric acid, sucralose, potassium sorbate, agar, acesulfame potassium, lactase enzyme, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D3, active cultures (Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidum). Contains: milk.
Other products containing Active Cultures
Active Cultures is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 84 products across the catalog. See its safety profile.
Categories
Data Sources
Data as of July 2026. Source: OpenFoodFacts, FDA SAFFA, CSPI Chemical Cuisine.
Product data from OpenFoodFacts (ODbL). Ingredient safety ratings from FDA SAFFA and CSPI Chemical Cuisine. See our methodology for details.
This information is for reference only and does not constitute dietary or medical advice.
Related
Every figure on PlainFoodSafe is rendered directly from OpenFoodFacts and FDA data, no number is typed in by an editor. Product figures are computed directly from OpenFoodFacts, FDA SAFFA, and CSPI Chemical Cuisine data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of July 2026.
