Pastel gel food colors
Open Food Facts label for barcode 0071169286499 · Betty Crocker · Baking-decorations. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.
The verdict
Pastel gel food colors by Betty Crocker scores 20/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 12 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 4 ingredients are flagged for caution. This is a focused 12-component label led by Corn Syrup, Sugar, Water; 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.
- 20/100
- Avoid safety score
- 4
- Many flagged · of 12 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
23/100
Grade F
Ingredient Safety
20/100
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.
69286499 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Pastel gel food colors label screening desk
10 of 12 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Red 3). Source sheet 69286499 · 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: Drink Mix Packets, Raspberry · Nearest score peer is Drink Mix Packets, Raspberry 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 lowest of the four bands. That is where labels land when registry-rated components drive the greater part of the deduction from the index. The band name is drawn from the framework's own scale and is distinct from the ratings the registries themselves assign to individual substances, which are shown per component below. A single heavily rated component and several lightly rated ones can produce the same band, so the component table is the more precise reading of the two.
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.
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 2,509 products we've scored in the Baking-decorations category, the average safety score is 65.2/100. Pastel gel food colors scores 45.2 points below that category average (20/100 vs. 65.2/100), 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 Baking-decorations products
Pastel gel food colors lists 12 ingredients on its label
12 50th percentile a longer ingredient list than 50% of the 2,313 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
- 13 products (1%)
- 2–4
- 46 products (2%)
- 4–6
- 171 products (7%)
- 6–8
- 322 products (14%)
- 8–10
- 264 products (11%)
- 10–12
- 335 products (14%)
- 12–14
- 253 products (11%)
- 14–16
- 201 products (9%)
- 16–18
- 186 products (8%)
- 18–20
- 161 products (7%)
- 20–22
- 106 products (5%)
- 22–24
- 78 products (3%)
- 24–26
- 69 products (3%)
- 26–28
- 41 products (2%)
- 28–30
- 28 products (1%)
- 30–32
- 13 products (1%)
- 32–34
- 8 products (0%)
- 34–36
- 3 products (0%)
- 36–38
- 3 products (0%)
- 38–40
- 4 products (0%)
- 40 and above
- 8 products (0%)
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 2,313 Baking-decorations 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 20/100 score is built
Screening starts at 100 and subtracts severity-weighted FDA SAFFA / CSPI flags (4 flagged of 12 labeled). The floor is 0 when deductions exceed 100.
Full Ingredient List
Corn syrup, sugar, water, modified cornstarch, carrageenan, citric acid, sodium benzoate (preservative), yellow 5, blue 1, red 3, potassium sorbate (preservative).
Categories
More from Betty Crocker
Lower-score cross-brand comparables for Pastel gel food colors
Neighbours outside Betty Crocker in the same lower screening band as Pastel gel food colors (20/100). The 5 same-brand links above stay within Betty Crocker; these peers cross brands.
Nearest 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 (12 on 0071169286499).
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Red 3 is the first flagged ingredient selected from Pastel gel food colors's parsed label. Start with that ingredient’s source context, then compare the rest of this 12-ingredient record.
- Inspect the FDA SAFFA and CSPI context attached to Red 3. Open Red 3
- Compare Pastel gel food colors's 4 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 0071169286499: 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.