Candy Canes
Scores 25/100 on FDA SAFFA + CSPI ingredient analysis , with 3 flagged ingredients identified.
The verdict
Candy Canes by Ferrara Candy Company scores 25/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 6 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 3 ingredients are flagged for caution. This is a focused 6-component label led by Corn Syrup, Sugar, Artificial Flavor; compare those leading ingredients with the product's processing and nutrition fields before deciding whether it fits your goal. This is not a recall, allergy, medical, or dietary-safety determination.
- 25/100
- Avoid safety score
- 3
- flagged ingredients of 6 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.
00146244 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Candy Canes label screening desk
Candy Canes screens 25/100 with 3 flagged of 6 parsed ingredients. 5 of 6 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Yellow 6). Derived index from public OFF + FDA SAFFA + CSPI data — not an official FDA rating; see methodology. Methodology · Read with nearest score peer: Worms (0 pts).
Screening model notes
How Nutri-Score, NOVA, and list length read this record
The composite for this product falls in the lowest of the four bands. That is where labels land when registry-rated components drive the greater part of the deduction from the index. The band name is drawn from the framework's own scale and is distinct from the ratings the registries themselves assign to individual substances, which are shown per component below. A single heavily rated component and several lightly rated ones can produce the same band, so the component table is the more precise reading of the two.
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.
The declared list parsed into a small number of components. On a short list the registry screen covers close to everything the packaging declares, and any single matched component accounts for a correspondingly large share of the composite. Short lists also leave less room for parsing error, since there are fewer separators and qualifiers for the extraction to resolve.
Cross-brand screening score neighbourhood
Ingredient-list length vs every product we publish
Candy Canes lists 6 ingredients on its label
6 17th percentile a longer ingredient list than 17% 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
CORN SYRUP, SUGAR, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, RED 40, RED 40 LAKE, YELLOW 6.
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.
More from Ferrara Candy Company
Cross-brand products with similar screening profiles
Two PlainFoodSafe-derived peer sets for Candy Canes, both outside the Ferrara Candy Company brand so the neighborhoods are not catalog containment (the More-from block above stays brand-local).
Similar safety score
Nearest cross-brand products by ingredient screening score (25/100 here).
Similar ingredient-count peers
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (6 here).
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.
