Fudge Bars
Scores 75/100 on FDA SAFFA + CSPI ingredient analysis , with 3 flagged ingredients identified.
The verdict
Fudge Bars by HC The Smart Choice scores 75/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 21 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 3 ingredients are flagged for caution. The 21-component label is layered, beginning with Milk, Condensed Skim Milk, Water. 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.
- 75/100
- Caution safety score
- 3
- flagged ingredients of 21 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.
55409156 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Fudge Bars label screening desk
Fudge Bars screens 75/100 with 3 flagged of 21 parsed ingredients. 10 of 21 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Polydextrose). Derived index from public OFF + FDA SAFFA + CSPI data — not an official FDA rating; see methodology. Methodology · Read with nearest score peer: Fruit medley (0 pts).
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 24,982 products we've scored in the Frozen foods category, the average safety score is 92.9/100. Fudge Bars scores 17.9 points below that category average (75/100 vs. 92.9/100), 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 Desserts products
Fudge Bars lists 21 ingredients on its label
21 57th percentile a longer ingredient list than 57% of the 11,156 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
- 2 products (0%)
- 2–4
- 14 products (0%)
- 4–6
- 181 products (2%)
- 6–8
- 460 products (4%)
- 8–10
- 568 products (5%)
- 10–12
- 830 products (7%)
- 12–14
- 952 products (9%)
- 14–16
- 1,030 products (9%)
- 16–18
- 971 products (9%)
- 18–20
- 838 products (8%)
- 20–22
- 777 products (7%)
- 22–24
- 663 products (6%)
- 24–26
- 592 products (5%)
- 26–28
- 540 products (5%)
- 28–30
- 440 products (4%)
- 30–32
- 426 products (4%)
- 32–34
- 345 products (3%)
- 34–36
- 310 products (3%)
- 36–38
- 245 products (2%)
- 38–40
- 217 products (2%)
- 40 and above
- 755 products (7%)
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 11,156 Desserts 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
Milk, condensed skim milk, water, polydextrose, sorbitol, milk protein concentrate, stabilizer (maltodextrin, whey, locust bean gum, cellulose gum, mono - and diglycerides, guar gum, starch, polysorbate 80, carrageenan), glycerine, whey protein concentrate, aspartame, vitamin A palmitate, natural and artificial vanilla flavor.
Other products containing Natural And Artificial Vanilla Flavor
Natural And Artificial Vanilla Flavor is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 259 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 HC The Smart Choice
Cross-brand products with similar screening profiles
Two PlainFoodSafe-derived peer sets for Fudge Bars, both outside the HC The Smart Choice 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 (75/100 here).
Similar ingredient-count peers
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (21 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.
