Applewood Smoked Beef Jerky
by Pony Express
Open Food Facts label for barcode 0054042002096 · Pony Express · Snacks. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.
The verdict
Applewood Smoked Beef Jerky by Pony Express scores 85/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 25 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 1 ingredient is flagged for caution. The 25-component label is layered, beginning with Beef, Sauce, High-fructose corn syrup. 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.
- 85/100
- Caution safety score
- 1
- One flagged · of 25 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.
Composite profile score
One verdict from three independent sources
50/100
Grade C-
Ingredient Safety
85/100
FDA/CSPI flagged-ingredient screening
Processing Level
NOVA 4
Ultra-processed foods
Nutrition Grade
E
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.
42002096 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Applewood Smoked Beef Jerky label screening desk
8 of 25 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Sodium Nitrite). Source sheet 42002096 · 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: Celebration graham flavored cookies · Nearest score peer is Celebration graham flavored cookies 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 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.
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 88,006 products we've scored in the Snacks category, the average safety score is 86.1/100. Applewood Smoked Beef Jerky scores 1.1 points below that category average (85/100 vs. 86.1/100), 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 Snacks products
Applewood Smoked Beef Jerky lists 25 ingredients on its label
25 72nd percentile a longer ingredient list than 72% of the 81,477 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
- 275 products (0%)
- 2–4
- 2,901 products (4%)
- 4–6
- 4,248 products (5%)
- 6–8
- 5,408 products (7%)
- 8–10
- 5,486 products (7%)
- 10–12
- 5,840 products (7%)
- 12–14
- 6,252 products (8%)
- 14–16
- 6,724 products (8%)
- 16–18
- 6,221 products (8%)
- 18–20
- 5,168 products (6%)
- 20–22
- 4,508 products (6%)
- 22–24
- 3,809 products (5%)
- 24–26
- 3,567 products (4%)
- 26–28
- 2,829 products (3%)
- 28–30
- 2,282 products (3%)
- 30–32
- 1,905 products (2%)
- 32–34
- 1,715 products (2%)
- 34–36
- 1,572 products (2%)
- 36–38
- 1,417 products (2%)
- 38–40
- 1,284 products (2%)
- 40 and above
- 8,066 products (10%)
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 81,477 Snacks 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 85/100 score is built
Screening starts at 100 and subtracts severity-weighted FDA SAFFA / CSPI flags (1 flagged of 25 labeled). The floor is 0 when deductions exceed 100.
Full Ingredient List
Beef, sauce, (high fructose corn syrup, water, vinegar, tomato paste, soy sauce, (water, soybeans, wheat, salt), modified food starch, sea salt, canola oil, xanthan gum, garlic, onion, citric acid, natural spice extracts, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate (as preservatives), contains soy and wheat.) dark brown sugar, water, salt, potassium sorbate, sodium nitrite, garlic, black pepper.
Other products containing Soy And Wheat
Soy And Wheat is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 82 products across the catalog. See its safety profile.
Categories
More from Pony Express
High-score cross-brand comparables for Applewood Smoked Beef Jerky
Neighbours outside Pony Express with screening scores in the same high band as Applewood Smoked Beef Jerky (85/100 here). The 4 same-brand links above stay within Pony Express; these peers cross brands.
Same high-band screening score
Nearest cross-brand products by screening score (1 flagged of 25 on 0054042002096).
Long-label peers (21+ ingredients)
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (25 on 0054042002096).
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Sodium Nitrite is the first flagged ingredient selected from Applewood Smoked Beef Jerky'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 Sodium Nitrite. Open Sodium Nitrite
- Compare Applewood Smoked Beef Jerky's 1 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 0054042002096: 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.