HICKORY HAM & CHEDDAR
by Hot Pockets
Open Food Facts label for barcode 0043695612547 · Hot Pockets · Meat alternatives. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.
The verdict
HICKORY HAM & CHEDDAR by Hot Pockets scores 80/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 73 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 2 ingredients are flagged for caution. The source parser split this into a very long 73-component record, beginning with Enriched Flour, Wheat Flour, Malted Barley 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.
- 80/100
- Caution safety score
- 2
- Few flagged · of 73 analyzed
- Group 4
- Ultra-processed
- D
- 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
53/100
Grade C-
Ingredient Safety
80/100
FDA/CSPI flagged-ingredient screening
Processing Level
NOVA 4
Ultra-processed foods
Nutrition Grade
D
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.
95612547 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
HICKORY HAM & CHEDDAR label screening desk
25 of 73 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Sodium Nitrite). Source sheet 95612547 · 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 · Read with nearest score peer: Hot Pockets Hickory Ham & Cheddar Crispy Buttery Crust · Nearest score peer is Hot Pockets Hickory Ham & Cheddar Crispy Buttery Crust at the same screening score.
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.
This label falls in the fourth Nutri-Score band. The model arrives there when its penalty terms — energy density, sugars, saturated fat, sodium — carry more weight in the calculation than the fibre, protein and produce content it credits. The band covers a wide span of the points scale, so position within it is not visible from the letter alone. The grade reflects the declared nutrition panel and is unrelated to the additive ratings listed below, which come from different bodies applying different criteria.
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.
Cross-brand screening score neighbourhood
How It Compares to Its Category
Among the 611 products we've scored in the Meat alternatives category, the average safety score is 98.7/100. HICKORY HAM & CHEDDAR scores 18.7 points below that category average (80/100 vs. 98.7/100), 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 Meat alternatives products
HICKORY HAM & CHEDDAR lists 73 ingredients on its label
73 99th percentile a longer ingredient list than 99% of the 141 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
- 2–4
- 2 products (1%)
- 4–6
- 3 products (2%)
- 6–8
- 3 products (2%)
- 8–10
- 6 products (4%)
- 10–12
- 3 products (2%)
- 12–14
- 11 products (8%)
- 14–16
- 12 products (9%)
- 16–18
- 14 products (10%)
- 18–20
- 12 products (9%)
- 20–22
- 10 products (7%)
- 22–24
- 10 products (7%)
- 24–26
- 4 products (3%)
- 26–28
- 12 products (9%)
- 28–30
- 5 products (4%)
- 30–32
- 3 products (2%)
- 32–34
- 2 products (1%)
- 34–36
- 2 products (1%)
- 36–38
- 5 products (4%)
- 38–40
- 5 products (4%)
- 40 and above
- 17 products (12%)
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 141 Meat alternatives 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 73 labeled). The floor is 0 when deductions exceed 100.
Full Ingredient List
Enriched flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, fully cooked ham and water product, natural hickory smoke flavor (cured with water, sugar, salt, sodium phosphate, dehydrated pork broth, potassium salt, carrageenan, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite), reduced fat cheddar cheese (pasteurized part skim milk, skim milk, modified food starch, cultures, salt, flavors, potassium salt, annatto, vitamin A palmitate, enzymes), vegetable oil (soybean oil and/or palm oil and/or fractionated palm oil and/or canola oil), margarine (palm oil, water, soybean oil, sugar, monoglycerides, soybean lecithin, potassium sorbate, citric acid, annatto, turmeric color, vitamin A palmitate), sugar, modified food starch, salt, maltodextrin, whey, dough conditioner blend (calcium sulfate, salt, L-cysteine hydrochloride, garlic powder, enzymes), buttermilk, corn syrup, bleached enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), cheddar cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), enzyme modified cheddar cheese, sodium caseinate, annatto, turmeric color, soy lecithin, corn starch, mono and diglycerides, autolyzed yeast extract, dried garlic, lactic acid, enzyme modified milk fat, calcium lactate, natural flavors, acetic acid, calcium hydroxide, citric acid, dried onion, sodium hydroxide, sodium phosphate, methylcellulose, soy flour, egg whites. Contains: egg, wheat, milk, soy.
Other products containing Enzyme Modified Milk Fat
Enzyme Modified Milk Fat is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 5 products across the catalog. See its safety profile.
Categories
More from Hot Pockets
High-score cross-brand comparables for HICKORY HAM & CHEDDAR
Neighbours outside Hot Pockets with screening scores in the same high band as HICKORY HAM & CHEDDAR (80/100 here). The 5 same-brand links above stay within Hot Pockets; these peers cross brands.
Same high-band screening score
Nearest cross-brand products by screening score (2 flagged of 73 on 0043695612547).
Long-label peers (21+ ingredients)
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (73 on 0043695612547).
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Sodium Nitrite is the first flagged ingredient selected from HICKORY HAM & CHEDDAR's parsed label. Start with that ingredient’s source context, then compare the rest of this 73-ingredient record.
- Inspect the FDA SAFFA and CSPI context attached to Sodium Nitrite. Open Sodium Nitrite
- Compare HICKORY HAM & CHEDDAR's 2 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 0043695612547: 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.