Turkey Meatballs
by Trader Joe's
Scores 100/100 on FDA SAFFA + CSPI ingredient analysis , with no flagged ingredients identified.
The verdict
Turkey Meatballs by Trader Joe's scores 100/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 17 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 0 ingredients are flagged for caution. The 17-component label is layered, beginning with Turkey Meat, Water, Seasonings. 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.
- 100/100
- Safe safety score
- 0
- flagged ingredients of 17 analyzed
- Group 4
- Ultra-processed
- C
- 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.
00449205 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Turkey Meatballs label screening desk
Turkey Meatballs screens 100/100 with 0 flagged of 17 parsed ingredients. 2 of 17 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Sugar). Derived index from public OFF + FDA SAFFA + CSPI data — not an official FDA rating; see methodology. Methodology · Read with nearest score peer: Meatballs Italian Style (0 pts).
Screening model notes
How Nutri-Score, NOVA, and list length read this record
Within the four-tier shelf-label framework this site publishes, the composite for this product falls in the highest band. That band is defined by a threshold on the derived score alone: it is where labels land once components carrying caution-or-worse registry ratings contribute little or nothing to the deduction. The band is a summary of what the screened registries return for the components that were parsed, so it inherits their coverage gaps — a component absent from both registries neither raises nor lowers the figure. The threshold and the weighting behind it are set out on the methodology page.
Nutri-Score settled on its middle grade here, the band the algorithm produces when the penalty and credit sides of its nutrient ledger come out close to balanced. A mid-scale grade is a statement about the panel as a whole rather than about any single nutrient, and products arrive at it by very different routes: a moderate profile across every term, or high marks on some offset by heavy penalties on others. The grade is computed separately from the ingredient screen below and the two are not comparable measures.
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.
Cross-brand screening score neighbourhood
How It Compares to Its Category
Among the 13,350 products we've scored in the Meats and their products category, the average safety score is 92.4/100. Turkey Meatballs scores 7.6 points above that category average (100/100 vs. 92.4/100), so it is a comparatively strong pick for shoppers screening within that category specifically, rather than against the product catalog as a whole.
Ingredient-list length vs other Meats and their products products
Turkey Meatballs lists 17 ingredients on its label
17 77th percentile a longer ingredient list than 77% of the 11,159 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
- 78 products (1%)
- 2–4
- 431 products (4%)
- 4–6
- 611 products (5%)
- 6–8
- 1,397 products (13%)
- 8–10
- 1,483 products (13%)
- 10–12
- 1,701 products (15%)
- 12–14
- 1,459 products (13%)
- 14–16
- 997 products (9%)
- 16–18
- 735 products (7%)
- 18–20
- 489 products (4%)
- 20–22
- 377 products (3%)
- 22–24
- 278 products (2%)
- 24–26
- 234 products (2%)
- 26–28
- 140 products (1%)
- 28–30
- 145 products (1%)
- 30–32
- 93 products (1%)
- 32–34
- 82 products (1%)
- 34–36
- 67 products (1%)
- 36–38
- 74 products (1%)
- 38–40
- 50 products (0%)
- 40 and above
- 238 products (2%)
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 11,159 Meats and their products 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
Turkey Meat, Water, Seasonings (Textured Soy Flour, Bread Crumbs (Wheat Flour, Sugar, Salt, Yeast), Soy Protein Concentrate, Corn Syrup Solids, Salt, Dehydrated Onion, Spices, Garlic Powder, Parsley), Mechanically Separated Turkey, Onion
Other products containing Turkey Meat
Turkey Meat is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 88 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.
More from Trader Joe's
Cross-brand products with similar screening profiles
Two PlainFoodSafe-derived peer sets for Turkey Meatballs, both outside the Trader Joe's 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 (100/100 here).
Similar ingredient-count peers
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (17 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.
