Avoid

Cake square

Open Food Facts label for barcode 0018169440797 · Snacks. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.

Barcode 0018169440797 · Serving size 1 SLICE (80 g)

The verdict

Cake square scores 5/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 63 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 5 ingredients are flagged for caution. The source parser split this into a very long 63-component record, beginning with Chocolate Sponge Cake, Sugar, Cake Flour. That density can include amounts and label fragments, so verify the physical label before relying on ingredient order or completeness. This is not a recall, allergy, medical, or dietary-safety determination.

5/100
Avoid safety score
5
Many flagged · of 63 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

10/100

Grade F

Ingredient Safety

5/100

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.

69440797 · Open Food Facts · July 2026

Cake square label screening desk

SCORE-AVOID 5/100 FLAG-MANY 5 flagged LEN-DENSE 63 ing. REG-SPARSE 24% reg. NOVA-G4 G4 ultra NUTRI-E Nutri-E RANK-SHORT Len top 1% LEAD-FLAG TBHQ PHOTO-SOLO No peers BOOK-OFF …440797 · July 2026

15 of 63 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: TBHQ). Source sheet 69440797 · 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 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 is among the longer ones in this catalogue. A component set this wide means the screen returns many individual ratings, and the composite accumulates a large number of small contributions instead of turning on a handful of entries. At this length the per-component table below is substantially more informative than the single figure, because the figure compresses a great deal of variation into one number.

How It Compares to Its Category

Among the 88,006 products we've scored in the Snacks category, the average safety score is 86.1/100. Cake square scores 81.1 points below that category average (5/100 vs. 86.1/100), 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 Snacks products

Cake square lists 63 ingredients on its label

63 99th percentile a longer ingredient list than 99% of the 81,477 products we track

0–2: 275 products (0%). Below this entry. 2–4: 2,901 products (4%). Below this entry. 4–6: 4,248 products (5%). Below this entry. 6–8: 5,408 products (7%). Below this entry. 8–10: 5,486 products (7%). Below this entry. 10–12: 5,840 products (7%). Below this entry. 12–14: 6,252 products (8%). Below this entry. 14–16: 6,724 products (8%). Below this entry. 16–18: 6,221 products (8%). Below this entry. 18–20: 5,168 products (6%). Below this entry. 20–22: 4,508 products (6%). Below this entry. 22–24: 3,809 products (5%). Below this entry. 24–26: 3,567 products (4%). Below this entry. 26–28: 2,829 products (3%). Below this entry. 28–30: 2,282 products (3%). Below this entry. 30–32: 1,905 products (2%). Below this entry. 32–34: 1,715 products (2%). Below this entry. 34–36: 1,572 products (2%). Below this entry. 36–38: 1,417 products (2%). Below this entry. 38–40: 1,284 products (2%). Below this entry. 40–42: 8,066 products (10%). This entry sits in this band. This product 0 42 every published Snacks 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

81,477 products, bucketed in bands of 2. This entry: 63 (99th percentile). Data current as of July 2026.

0–2
275 products (0%)
2–4
2,901 products (4%)
4–6
4,248 products (5%)
6–8
5,408 products (7%)
8–10
5,486 products (7%)
10–12
5,840 products (7%)
12–14
6,252 products (8%)
14–16
6,724 products (8%)
16–18
6,221 products (8%)
18–20
5,168 products (6%)
20–22
4,508 products (6%)
22–24
3,809 products (5%)
24–26
3,567 products (4%)
26–28
2,829 products (3%)
28–30
2,282 products (3%)
30–32
1,905 products (2%)
32–34
1,715 products (2%)
34–36
1,572 products (2%)
36–38
1,417 products (2%)
38–40
1,284 products (2%)
40 and above
8,066 products (10%)

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 81,477 Snacks 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 5/100 score is built

Screening starts at 100 and subtracts severity-weighted FDA SAFFA / CSPI flags (5 flagged of 63 labeled). The floor is 0 when deductions exceed 100.

1
Chocolate Sponge Cake
2
Sugar
Sweetener
Cut Back
3
Cake Flour
4
Bleached Wheat Flour
5
Sugared Egg Yolks
6
Egg Yolks
7
Whole Eggs
8
Cake Shortening
9
Soybean Oil
10
Glyceryl-lacto Esters Of Fatty Acids
EMULSIFIER OR EMULSIFIER SALT
Approved
11
Vegetable Mono - & Diglycerides
12
TBHQ
Preservative
Avoid Approved (preservative, 21 CFR 172.185)
13
Whole Milk
14
Milk
15
Vitamin A Palmitate
COLOR OR COLORING ADJUNCT, NUTRIENT SUPPLEMENT
GRAS
16
Vitamin D3
17
Cocoa Powder
18
Pan Spray
19
Soy Oil
20
Petrolatum
LUBRICANT OR RELEASE AGENT, MASTICATORY SUBSTANCE, SOLVENT OR VEHICLE, SURFACE-ACTIVE AGENT
Approved
21
Or Less Of Spray
22
Corn Syrup
ANTICAKING AGENT OR FREE-FLOW AGENT, DRYING AGENT, FLAVOR ENHANCER, FLAVORING AGENT OR ADJUVANT, HUMECTANT, LEAVENING AGENT, NUTRIENT SUPPLEMENT, NUTRITIVE SWEETENER, SOLVENT OR VEHICLE, TEXTURIZER
Cut Back GRAS
23
Sorbitol
Sweetener
Cut Back
24
Water
25
Or Less Og Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil
26
Soy Lecithin
27
Polysorbate 60
BOILER WATER ADDITIVE, EMULSIFIER OR EMULSIFIER SALT, FLAVORING AGENT OR ADJUVANT, STABILIZER OR THICKENER, SURFACE-ACTIVE AGENT
Caution Approved
28
Reed 40
29
Yellow 5
Avoid Approved (certified color)
30
Yellow 6
Avoid Approved (certified color)
31
Blue 2
Avoid Approved (certified color)
32
Artificial Flavor
33
Vanilla Extract
34
Vanilla Bean Extractives
35
Ethyl Alcohol
ANTIMICROBIAL AGENT, EMULSIFIER OR EMULSIFIER SALT, FLAVOR ENHANCER, FLAVORING AGENT OR ADJUVANT, PROCESSING AID, SOLVENT OR VEHICLE
GRAS
36
Chocolate Syrup
37
Natural Chocolate Flavor
38
Alcohol
39
Natural & Artificial Flavors
40
Chocolate Buttercream
41
Fondant Sugar
42
Citric Acid
ANTIMICROBIAL AGENT, ANTIOXIDANT, ENZYME, FLAVOR ENHANCER, FLAVORING AGENT OR ADJUVANT, LEAVENING AGENT, PH CONTROL AGENT, SEQUESTRANT, SOLVENT OR VEHICLE, SURFACE-ACTIVE AGENT
Safe GRAS
43
preservative 0
44
Fidge Base
45
Cocoa Diglycerides
46
Preservatives
47
Or Less Of Soy Lecithin
48
Glycol Alcohol
49
Artificial Flavors
50
Chocolate Shavings
51
Cocoa Solids
52
Cocoa Butter
53
Vanillin
COLOR OR COLORING ADJUNCT, FLAVORING AGENT OR ADJUVANT
Safe GRAS
54
Chocolate Disc
55
Sugar Chocolate Liquor
56
Butter Oil
57
Emulsifiers
58
Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate
59
Vegetable Oil
60
Organic Coconut
61
Color
62
Titanium Dioxide
ANTICAKING AGENT OR FREE-FLOW AGENT, COLOR OR COLORING ADJUNCT, DRYING AGENT, HUMECTANT, PROCESSING AID, SURFACE-FINISHING AGENT, TRACER
Avoid Prior Sanctioned
63
Skimmed Milk Powder

Full Ingredient List

Chocolate sponge cake (sugar, cake flour [bleached wheat flour], sugared egg yolks [egg yolks, sugar], whole eggs, cake shortening [soybean oil, glyceryl-lacto esters of fatty acids, vegetable mono - & diglycerides, tbhq {protects flavor}], whole milk [milk, vitamin a palmitate, vitamin d3], cocoa powder, pan spray [soy oil, petrolatum contains 2% or less of spray , corn syrup, sorbitol, water, contains 2% or less og hydrogenated cottonseed oil, soy lecithin, polysorbate 60, reed 40, yellow 5, yellow 6, blue 2, artificial flavor], vanilla extract [vanilla bean extractives, corn syrup, ethyl alcohol, water]}, chocolate syrup (sugar, water, chocolate flavor [water, alcohol, natural & artificial flavors]), chocolate buttercream (fondant sugar, polysorbate 60, citric acid (preservative}0, fidge base [cocoa diglycerides, polysorbate 60, tbhq, citric acid (preservatives], soybean oil, corn syrup, contains 2% or less of soy lecithin, glycol alcohol, artificial flavors, citric acid), chocolate shavings (sugar, cocoa solids, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanillin), chocolate disc (sugar chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, butter oil [milk], emulsifiers [soy lecithin], polyglycerol polyricinoleate, vegetable oil [coconut], color [titanium dioxide], skimmed milk powder).

Categories

Snacks Sweet snacks Biscuits and cakes Cakes

Follow the flagged-label evidence

Follow the flagged-label evidence

TBHQ is the first flagged ingredient selected from Cake square's parsed label. Start with that ingredient’s source context, then compare the rest of this 63-ingredient record.

  • Inspect the FDA SAFFA and CSPI context attached to TBHQ. Open TBHQ
  • Compare Cake square's 5 flagged ingredients with a product from the same score neighbourhood. Compare labels
  • Check how caution flags contribute to the derived screening score before drawing a dietary conclusion. Read the method

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

Barcode 0018169440797: 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.