Meijer, instant pudding & pie filling, vanilla
by Meijer
Scores 35/100 on FDA SAFFA + CSPI ingredient analysis , with 3 flagged ingredients identified.
The verdict
Meijer, instant pudding & pie filling, vanilla by Meijer scores 35/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 16 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 3 ingredients are flagged for caution. The 16-component label is layered, beginning with Sugar, Modified Food Starch, Dextrose. 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.
- 35/100
- Avoid safety score
- 3
- flagged ingredients of 16 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 Meijer, instant pudding & pie filling, vanilla
Meijer, instant pudding & pie filling, vanilla by Meijer carries a composite safety score of 35/100, which we classify as "Avoid" on our four-tier shelf-label framework.
Of the 16 ingredients parsed from this label, 6 are covered by a regulator or watchdog we screen against (Titanium Dioxide, Yellow 6, Yellow 5 and 3 others), with 4 carrying an FDA Substances Added to Food (SAFFA) status and 6 a CSPI Chemical Cuisine rating. The remaining 10 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 3 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, Meijer, instant pudding & pie filling, vanilla 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
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.
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 | 35/100 | FDA SAFFA + CSPI composite |
| Flagged ingredients | 3 | 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 18,164 products we've scored in the Desserts category, the average safety score is 89.5/100. Meijer, instant pudding & pie filling, vanilla scores 54.5 points below that category average (35/100 vs. 89.5/100), 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 Desserts products
Meijer, instant pudding & pie filling, vanilla lists 16 ingredients on its label
16 36th percentile a longer ingredient list than 36% of the 11,156 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
- 2 products (0%)
- 2–4
- 14 products (0%)
- 4–6
- 181 products (2%)
- 6–8
- 460 products (4%)
- 8–10
- 568 products (5%)
- 10–12
- 830 products (7%)
- 12–14
- 952 products (9%)
- 14–16
- 1,030 products (9%)
- 16–18
- 971 products (9%)
- 18–20
- 838 products (8%)
- 20–22
- 777 products (7%)
- 22–24
- 663 products (6%)
- 24–26
- 592 products (5%)
- 26–28
- 540 products (5%)
- 28–30
- 440 products (4%)
- 30–32
- 426 products (4%)
- 32–34
- 345 products (3%)
- 34–36
- 310 products (3%)
- 36–38
- 245 products (2%)
- 38–40
- 217 products (2%)
- 40 and above
- 755 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. The comparison here runs against the 11,156 Desserts 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
Sugar, modified food starch, dextrose, contains 2% or less of disodium phosphate, tetrasodium pyrophosphate, salt, mono - and diglycerides (prevent foaming), nonfat dry milk, partially hydrogenated soybean oil with bha (preservative), titanium dioxide (for color), artificial flavor, yellow 5, yellow 6.
Other products containing Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil With Bha
Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil With Bha is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 68 products across the catalog. See its safety profile.
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.
