Cheese Puffs
by Valu Time
Scores 50/100 on FDA SAFFA + CSPI ingredient analysis , with 2 flagged ingredients identified.
The verdict
Cheese Puffs by Valu Time scores 50/100 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 Cornmeal, Organic Sunflower, Corn Oil. 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.
- 50/100
- Concern safety score
- 2
- flagged ingredients of 22 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 Cheese Puffs
Cheese Puffs by Valu Time carries a composite safety score of 50/100, which we classify as "Concern" on our four-tier shelf-label framework.
Of the 22 ingredients parsed from this label, 8 are covered by a regulator or watchdog we screen against (Whey Protein Concentrate, Yellow 6, Lactic Acid and 5 others), with 7 carrying an FDA Substances Added to Food (SAFFA) status and 6 a CSPI Chemical Cuisine rating. The remaining 14 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, Cheese Puffs 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
This label lands in the third of four positions on the published scale. What separates that position from its neighbours is arithmetic rather than judgement: identical inputs run through the documented weighting always arrive at the same place. Anyone who works the calculation through by hand, using the methodology write-up together with the itemised ratings further down, will reproduce this number exactly — which is the reason for publishing a computed figure instead of an opinion.
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.
Safety Profile at a Glance
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| PlainFoodSafe Score | 50/100 | FDA SAFFA + CSPI composite |
| Flagged ingredients | 2 | 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.
Ingredient-list length vs every product we publish
Cheese Puffs lists 22 ingredients on its label
22 75th percentile a longer ingredient list than 75% of the 359,392 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
- 6,017 products (2%)
- 2–4
- 24,515 products (7%)
- 4–6
- 30,975 products (9%)
- 6–8
- 30,947 products (9%)
- 8–10
- 31,570 products (9%)
- 10–12
- 29,866 products (8%)
- 12–14
- 28,397 products (8%)
- 14–16
- 27,399 products (8%)
- 16–18
- 24,531 products (7%)
- 18–20
- 19,104 products (5%)
- 20–22
- 14,716 products (4%)
- 22–24
- 12,256 products (3%)
- 24–26
- 10,853 products (3%)
- 26–28
- 9,356 products (3%)
- 28–30
- 7,948 products (2%)
- 30–32
- 6,771 products (2%)
- 32–34
- 5,945 products (2%)
- 34–36
- 5,283 products (1%)
- 36–38
- 4,549 products (1%)
- 38–40
- 4,084 products (1%)
- 40 and above
- 24,310 products (7%)
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. No category with enough published products was available for this record, so the comparison runs against the whole published catalogue.
Ingredient Safety Analysis
Full Ingredient List
CORNMEAL, SUNFLOWER AND/OR CORN OIL, WHEY, MALTODEXTRIN, REDUCED LACTOSE WHEY, CANOLA OIL, SLAT, CHEDDAR AND BLUE CHEESE (CULTURED MILK, SALT, ENZYMES), ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, DISODIUM PHOSPHATE, CREAM, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, ARTIFICIAL COLOR (YELLOW 6, EXTRACTIVES OF TURMERIC, YELLOW 5), LACTIC ACID, CITRIC ACID.
Other products containing Slat
Slat is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 107 products across the catalog. See its safety profile.
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.
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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.
