Caution

Boba Tea

Open Food Facts label for barcode 0011152643212 · Plant-based foods and beverages. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.

Barcode 0011152643212

The verdict

Boba Tea scores 80/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 29 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 2 ingredients are flagged for caution. The 29-component label is layered, beginning with Sugar, Non-dairy Creamer, Glucose Syrup. 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.

80/100
Caution safety score
2
Few flagged · of 29 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.

Composite profile score

One verdict from three independent sources

48/100

Grade D

Ingredient Safety

80/100

FDA/CSPI flagged-ingredient screening

Processing Level

NOVA 4

Ultra-processed foods

Nutrition Grade

E

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.

52643212 · Open Food Facts · July 2026

Boba Tea label screening desk

SCORE-CAUT 80/100 FLAG-FEW 2 flagged LEN-LAYERED 29 ing. REG-PART 45% reg. NOVA-G4 G4 ultra NUTRI-E Nutri-E RANK-SHORT Len top 10% LEAD-FLAG Carboxymethyl Cellulose PHOTO-SOLO No peers BOOK-OFF …643212 · July 2026

13 of 29 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Carboxymethyl Cellulose). Source sheet 52643212 · 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

Screening model notes

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

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 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.

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.

How It Compares to Its Category

Among the 78,450 products we've scored in the Plant-based foods and beverages category, the average safety score is 97.7/100. Boba Tea scores 17.7 points below that category average (80/100 vs. 97.7/100), 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 Plant-based foods and beverages products

Boba Tea lists 29 ingredients on its label

29 90th percentile a longer ingredient list than 90% of the 63,434 products we track

0–2: 3,907 products (6%). Below this entry. 2–4: 7,921 products (12%). Below this entry. 4–6: 8,845 products (14%). Below this entry. 6–8: 7,032 products (11%). Below this entry. 8–10: 6,320 products (10%). Below this entry. 10–12: 4,190 products (7%). Below this entry. 12–14: 3,449 products (5%). Below this entry. 14–16: 3,051 products (5%). Below this entry. 16–18: 2,493 products (4%). Below this entry. 18–20: 2,053 products (3%). Below this entry. 20–22: 1,808 products (3%). Below this entry. 22–24: 1,758 products (3%). Below this entry. 24–26: 1,623 products (3%). Below this entry. 26–28: 1,606 products (3%). Below this entry. 28–30: 1,360 products (2%). This entry sits in this band. 30–32: 1,198 products (2%). Above this entry. 32–34: 1,081 products (2%). Above this entry. 34–36: 901 products (1%). Above this entry. 36–38: 649 products (1%). Above this entry. 38–40: 534 products (1%). Above this entry. 40–42: 1,655 products (3%). Above this entry. This product 0 42 every published Plant-based foods and beverages 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

63,434 products, bucketed in bands of 2. This entry: 29 (90th percentile). Data current as of July 2026.

0–2
3,907 products (6%)
2–4
7,921 products (12%)
4–6
8,845 products (14%)
6–8
7,032 products (11%)
8–10
6,320 products (10%)
10–12
4,190 products (7%)
12–14
3,449 products (5%)
14–16
3,051 products (5%)
16–18
2,493 products (4%)
18–20
2,053 products (3%)
20–22
1,808 products (3%)
22–24
1,758 products (3%)
24–26
1,623 products (3%)
26–28
1,606 products (3%)
28–30
1,360 products (2%)
30–32
1,198 products (2%)
32–34
1,081 products (2%)
34–36
901 products (1%)
36–38
649 products (1%)
38–40
534 products (1%)
40 and above
1,655 products (3%)

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 63,434 Plant-based foods and beverages 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

How the 80/100 score is built

Screening starts at 100 and subtracts severity-weighted FDA SAFFA / CSPI flags (2 flagged of 29 labeled). The floor is 0 when deductions exceed 100.

1
Sugar
Sweetener
Cut Back
2
Non-dairy Creamer
 3
Glucose Syrup
 4
Fully Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil
 5
Whey Powder
 6
Sodium Caseinate
ANTICAKING AGENT OR FREE-FLOW AGENT, DRYING AGENT, EMULSIFIER OR EMULSIFIER SALT, FLAVORING AGENT OR ADJUVANT, FORMULATION AID, NUTRIENT SUPPLEMENT, PH CONTROL AGENT, SOLVENT OR VEHICLE, STABILIZER OR THICKENER, TEXTURIZER
GRAS
7
Tripotassium Phosphate
 8
Dipotassium Phosphate
EMULSIFIER OR EMULSIFIER SALT, NUTRIENT SUPPLEMENT, PH CONTROL AGENT, SEQUESTRANT, STABILIZER OR THICKENER
GRAS
9
Sodium Triphosphate
 10
Mono - And Diglycerides Of Fatty Acids
 11
Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters Of Mono - And Diglycerides
 12
Silicon Dioxide
ANTICAKING AGENT OR FREE-FLOW AGENT, ANTIOXIDANT, COLOR OR COLORING ADJUNCT, DRYING AGENT, EMULSIFIER OR EMULSIFIER SALT, FLAVORING AGENT OR ADJUVANT, FORMULATION AID, HUMECTANT, LUBRICANT OR RELEASE AGENT
Safe GRAS
13
Beta-carotene
ANTIOXIDANT, COLOR OR COLORING ADJUNCT, FLAVOR ENHANCER, FLAVORING AGENT OR ADJUVANT, NUTRIENT SUPPLEMENT, PROCESSING AID, SURFACE-FINISHING AGENT
Safe GRAS
14
Lactose
FLAVOR ENHANCER, FLAVORING AGENT OR ADJUVANT, FORMULATION AID, LUBRICANT OR RELEASE AGENT, MALTING OR FERMENTING AID, NUTRITIVE SWEETENER, OXIDIZING OR REDUCING AGENT, SOLVENT OR VEHICLE, STABILIZER OR THICKENER, SURFACE-ACTIVE AGENT
Certain People Should Avoid GRAS
15
Black Tea Powder
 16
Artificial Flavor
 17
Tieguanyin Tea Powder
 18
Sodium Carboxymethyl Cellulose
 19
Carboxymethyl Cellulose
ANTICAKING AGENT OR FREE-FLOW AGENT, DRYING AGENT, EMULSIFIER OR EMULSIFIER SALT, HUMECTANT, SOLVENT OR VEHICLE, STABILIZER OR THICKENER, SURFACE-ACTIVE AGENT
Caution GRAS
20
Acesulfame Potassium
NON-NUTRITIVE SWEETENER
Avoid Approved
21
Water
 22
Tapioca Starch
NUTRITIVE SWEETENER, STABILIZER OR THICKENER
GRAS
23
Acetylated Distarch Adipate
 24
Caramel Coloring
Coloring
Avoid Approved (color additive, GRAS)
25
Brown Sugar
 26
Glucono Delta-lactone
 27
Xanthan Gum
ANTICAKING AGENT OR FREE-FLOW AGENT, COLOR OR COLORING ADJUNCT, DRYING AGENT, EMULSIFIER OR EMULSIFIER SALT, FORMULATION AID, PROCESSING AID, SOLVENT OR VEHICLE, STABILIZER OR THICKENER, SURFACE-FINISHING AGENT, TEXTURIZER
Approved
28
Lactic Acid
ANTIMICROBIAL AGENT, CURING OR PICKLING AGENT, FLAVOR ENHANCER, FLAVORING AGENT OR ADJUVANT, PH CONTROL AGENT, SOLVENT OR VEHICLE
Safe GRAS
29
Malic Acid
FLAVOR ENHANCER, FLAVORING AGENT OR ADJUVANT, PH CONTROL AGENT, SYNERGIST
Safe GRAS

Full Ingredient List

SUGAR, NON-DAIRY CREAMER (GLUCOSE SYRUP, FULLY HYDROGENATED PALM KERNEL OIL, WHEY POWDER, SODIUM CASEINATE, TRIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, DIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, SODIUM TRIPHOSPHATE, MONO - AND DIGLYCERIDES OF FATTY ACIDS, DIACETYL TARTARIC ACID ESTERS OF MONO - AND DIGLYCERIDES, SILICON DIOXIDE, BETA-CAROTENE), LACTOSE, BLACK TEA POWDER, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, TIEGUANYIN TEA POWDER, SILICON DIOXIDE, SODIUM CARBOXYMETHYL CELLULOSE, CARBOXYMETHYL CELLULOSE, ACESULFAME POTASSIUM, WATER, TAPIOCA STARCH, SUGAR, ACETYLATED DISTARCH ADIPATE, CARAMEL COLOR, BROWN SUGAR, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, SODIUM CARBOXYMETHYL CELLULOSE, CARBOXYMETHYL CELLULOSE, GLUCONO DELTA-LACTONE, XANTHAN GUM, LACTIC ACID, MALIC ACID.

Other products containing Acetylated Distarch Adipate

Acetylated Distarch Adipate is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 12 products across the catalog. See its safety profile.

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Categories

Plant-based foods and beverages Beverages Hot beverages Plant-based beverages Teas

Follow the flagged-label evidence

Follow the flagged-label evidence

Carboxymethyl Cellulose is the first flagged ingredient selected from Boba Tea's parsed label. Start with that ingredient’s source context, then compare the rest of this 29-ingredient record.

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

Barcode 0011152643212: 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.