Pork Sausage
by Kroger
Scores 95/100 on FDA SAFFA + CSPI ingredient analysis , with 1 flagged ingredient identified.
The verdict
Pork Sausage by Kroger scores 95/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 18 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 1 ingredient is flagged for caution. The 18-component label is layered, beginning with Pork, Water, Salt. 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
- flagged ingredient of 18 analyzed
- Group 4
- Ultra-processed
- E
- 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 Pork Sausage
Pork Sausage by Kroger carries a composite safety score of 95/100, which we classify as "Safe" on our four-tier shelf-label framework.
Of the 18 ingredients parsed from this label, 10 are covered by a regulator or watchdog we screen against (Calcium Stearate, Sodium Lactate, Silicon Dioxide and 7 others), with 8 carrying an FDA Substances Added to Food (SAFFA) status and 8 a CSPI Chemical Cuisine rating. The remaining 8 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 1 flagged ingredient 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, Pork Sausage 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
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 assigned its lowest band to this label. The algorithm reserves that grade for nutrition panels where the values it penalises sit well above the components it credits. The two systems on this page measure genuinely different things: a product can hold this grade while carrying no additive flagged by the registries screened below, and a product graded well can carry several. Neither reading substitutes for the other, and the per-component table is where the additive picture is set out.
A mid-length component list was parsed from this label. There are enough separate entries for the screen to match several independently, while each matched entry still carries visible weight in the resulting index. Lists of this size are the most common shape in the catalogue, which makes the composite here easier to place against comparable products than at either extreme.
Safety Profile at a Glance
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| PlainFoodSafe Score | 95/100 | FDA SAFFA + CSPI composite |
| Flagged ingredients | 1 | CSPI/FDA review |
| NOVA processing group | Group 4 | OpenFoodFacts |
| Nutri-Score | E | OpenFoodFacts |
Composite metric derived from FDA SAFFA, CSPI Chemical Cuisine, OpenFoodFacts. See methodology.
How It Compares to Its Category
Among the 13,350 products we've scored in the Meats and their products category, the average safety score is 92.4/100. Pork Sausage scores 2.6 points above that category average (95/100 vs. 92.4/100), so it is roughly typical for shoppers screening within that category specifically, rather than against the product catalog as a whole.
Ingredient-list length vs other Meats and their products products
Pork Sausage lists 18 ingredients on its label
18 80th percentile a longer ingredient list than 80% of the 11,159 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
- 78 products (1%)
- 2–4
- 431 products (4%)
- 4–6
- 611 products (5%)
- 6–8
- 1,397 products (13%)
- 8–10
- 1,483 products (13%)
- 10–12
- 1,701 products (15%)
- 12–14
- 1,459 products (13%)
- 14–16
- 997 products (9%)
- 16–18
- 735 products (7%)
- 18–20
- 489 products (4%)
- 20–22
- 377 products (3%)
- 22–24
- 278 products (2%)
- 24–26
- 234 products (2%)
- 26–28
- 140 products (1%)
- 28–30
- 145 products (1%)
- 30–32
- 93 products (1%)
- 32–34
- 82 products (1%)
- 34–36
- 67 products (1%)
- 36–38
- 74 products (1%)
- 38–40
- 50 products (0%)
- 40 and above
- 238 products (2%)
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 11,159 Meats and their products 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
Pork, water, contains 2% or less of: salt, sodium lactate, sugar, dextrose, natural and artificial maple flavor (contains sugar, corn syrup), maltodextrin, potassium chloride, natural flavors, caramel color, oleoresin capsicum, spices, corn oil, calcium stearate, silicon dioxide, encased in collagen casings.
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.
