Zero Sugar Root Beer
by Barq's
Open Food Facts label for barcode 0049000023985 · Barq's · Beverages and beverages preparations. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.
The verdict
Zero Sugar Root Beer by Barq's scores 65/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 9 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 3 ingredients are flagged for caution. This is a focused 9-component label led by Carbonated Water, Caramel Coloring, Potassium Sorbate And Sodium Benzoate; 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.
- 65/100
- Concern safety score
- 3
- Few flagged · of 9 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.
Composite profile score
One verdict from three independent sources
50/100
Grade C-
Ingredient Safety
65/100
FDA/CSPI flagged-ingredient screening
Processing Level
NOVA 4
Ultra-processed foods
Nutrition Grade
C
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.
00023985 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Zero Sugar Root Beer label screening desk
5 of 9 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Aspartame). Source sheet 00023985 · 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: DIET PEPSI · Nearest score peer is DIET PEPSI at the same screening score.
Screening model notes
How Nutri-Score, NOVA, and list length read this record
This label lands in the third of four positions on the published scale. What separates that position from its neighbours is arithmetic rather than judgement: identical inputs run through the documented weighting always arrive at the same place. Anyone who works the calculation through by hand, using the methodology write-up together with the itemised ratings further down, will reproduce this number exactly — which is the reason for publishing a computed figure instead of an opinion.
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.
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
How It Compares to Its Category
Among the 32,623 products we've scored in the Beverages category, the average safety score is 90.5/100. Zero Sugar Root Beer scores 25.5 points below that category average (65/100 vs. 90.5/100), 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 Beverages and beverages preparations products
Zero Sugar Root Beer lists 9 ingredients on its label
9 40th percentile a longer ingredient list than 40% of the 4,874 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
- 103 products (2%)
- 2–4
- 484 products (10%)
- 4–6
- 475 products (10%)
- 6–8
- 550 products (11%)
- 8–10
- 619 products (13%)
- 10–12
- 595 products (12%)
- 12–14
- 493 products (10%)
- 14–16
- 381 products (8%)
- 16–18
- 272 products (6%)
- 18–20
- 193 products (4%)
- 20–22
- 187 products (4%)
- 22–24
- 134 products (3%)
- 24–26
- 95 products (2%)
- 26–28
- 69 products (1%)
- 28–30
- 56 products (1%)
- 30–32
- 38 products (1%)
- 32–34
- 16 products (0%)
- 34–36
- 22 products (0%)
- 36–38
- 5 products (0%)
- 38–40
- 7 products (0%)
- 40 and above
- 80 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 4,874 Beverages and beverages preparations 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 65/100 score is built
Screening starts at 100 and subtracts severity-weighted FDA SAFFA / CSPI flags (3 flagged of 9 labeled). The floor is 0 when deductions exceed 100.
Full Ingredient List
CARBONATED WATER, CARAMEL COLOR, POTASSIUM SORBATE AND SODIUM BENZOATE (TO PROTECT TASTE), ASPARTAME, CITRIC ACID, ACESULFAME POTASSIUM, ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL FLAVORS, ACACIA, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE
Categories
More from Barq's
Mid-score cross-brand comparables for Zero Sugar Root Beer
Neighbours outside Barq's near Zero Sugar Root Beer's mid-band score (65/100). The 5 same-brand links above stay within Barq's; these peers cross brands.
Same mid-band screening score
Nearest cross-brand products by screening score: 33% of this label's ingredients carry a caution flag.
Medium-label peers (9–20 ingredients)
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (9 on 0049000023985).
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Aspartame is the first flagged ingredient selected from Zero Sugar Root Beer's parsed label. Start with that ingredient’s source context, then compare the rest of this 9-ingredient record.
- Inspect the FDA SAFFA and CSPI context attached to Aspartame. Open Aspartame
- Compare Zero Sugar Root Beer's 3 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 0049000023985: 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.