Protein Shake
by Muscle Milk
Open Food Facts label for barcode 0052000054972 · Muscle Milk · Protein-drink. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.
The verdict
Protein Shake by Muscle Milk scores 80/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 25 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 2 ingredients are flagged for caution. The 25-component label is layered, beginning with Water, Calcium Caseinate, Milk Protein Isolate. 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.
- 80/100
- Caution safety score
- 2
- Few flagged · of 25 analyzed
- Group 4
- Ultra-processed
- A
- 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
68/100
Grade B-
Ingredient Safety
80/100
FDA/CSPI flagged-ingredient screening
Processing Level
NOVA 4
Ultra-processed foods
Nutrition Grade
A
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.
00054972 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Protein Shake label screening desk
8 of 25 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Sucralose). Source sheet 00054972 · 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: Whey protein powder · Nearest score peer is Whey protein powder 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.
Nutri-Score placed this label in its highest band. The model reaches that grade when the credit side of its ledger — fibre, protein and the fruit, vegetable and legume fraction — outweighs the energy, sugar, saturated-fat and sodium it counts against a product. The scale is computed per hundred grams from the declared nutrition panel, which is why two products with similar ingredients can grade differently on portion-heavy categories. It is a nutritional summary only, calculated independently of the additive registries screened further down this page, and it neither incorporates nor contradicts them.
This label parsed into a long component list. Where many entries are screened at once, the composite tends to reflect the overall mix of registry ratings returned rather than the rating of any one entry. Longer declarations also carry more sub-listed and compound entries, where a parenthetical group is resolved into its parts, so the parsed count can exceed what a reader counts on the packaging.
Cross-brand screening score neighbourhood
How It Compares to Its Category
Among the 49 products we've scored in the Protein-drink category, the average safety score is 82.1/100. Protein Shake scores 2.1 points below that category average (80/100 vs. 82.1/100), so it is roughly typical for shoppers screening within that category specifically, rather than against the product catalog as a whole.
Ingredient-list length vs other Protein-drink products
Protein Shake lists 25 ingredients on its label
25 74th percentile a longer ingredient list than 74% of the 43 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
- 6–8
- 2 products (5%)
- 8–10
- 7 products (16%)
- 10–12
- 1 products (2%)
- 12–14
- 3 products (7%)
- 14–16
- 6 products (14%)
- 16–18
- 7 products (16%)
- 18–20
- 4 products (9%)
- 20–22
- 1 products (2%)
- 24–26
- 2 products (5%)
- 26–28
- 1 products (2%)
- 38–40
- 1 products (2%)
- 40 and above
- 8 products (19%)
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 43 Protein-drink 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 25 labeled). The floor is 0 when deductions exceed 100.
Full Ingredient List
WATER, CALCIUM CASEINATE, MILK PROTEIN ISOLATE, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF ACESULFAME POTASSIUM, ASCORBIC ACID (PRESERVES FRESHNESS), CARRAGEENAN, CELLULOSE GEL, CELLULOSE GUM, COCOA (PROCESSED WITH ALKALI), NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, HIGH OLEIC SUNFLOWER OIL, MIXED TRIGLYCERIDES, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, POTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, SALT, SODIUM CASEINATE, SODIUM CITRATE, SODIUM POLYPHOSPHATES, SOLUBLE CORN FIBER, SUCRALOSE, SUNFLOWER LECITHIN, TRIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, VITAMIN D3
Other products containing Or Less Of Acesulfame Potassium
Or Less Of Acesulfame Potassium is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 5 products across the catalog. See its safety profile.
Categories
More from Muscle Milk
High-score cross-brand comparables for Protein Shake
Neighbours outside Muscle Milk with screening scores in the same high band as Protein Shake (80/100 here). The 5 same-brand links above stay within Muscle Milk; these peers cross brands.
Same high-band screening score
Nearest cross-brand products by screening score (2 flagged of 25 on 0052000054972).
Long-label peers (21+ ingredients)
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (25 on 0052000054972).
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Sucralose is the first flagged ingredient selected from Protein Shake's parsed label. Start with that ingredient’s source context, then compare the rest of this 25-ingredient record.
- Inspect the FDA SAFFA and CSPI context attached to Sucralose. Open Sucralose
- Compare Protein Shake'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 0052000054972: 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.