Concern

Hy-vee, cheese balls

by Hy-Vee

Open Food Facts label for barcode 0075450199765 · Hy-Vee · Snacks. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.

Barcode 0075450199765 · Serving size 1.1 ONZ (30 g)

The verdict

Hy-vee, cheese balls by Hy-Vee scores 50/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 20 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 2 ingredients are flagged for caution. The 20-component label is layered, beginning with Degerminated Yellow Corn Meal, Vegetable Oil, Corn. 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.

50/100
Concern safety score
2
Few flagged · of 20 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

33/100

Grade F

Ingredient Safety

50/100

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.

50199765 · Open Food Facts · July 2026

Hy-vee, cheese balls label screening desk

SCORE-CONC 50/100 FLAG-FEW 2 flagged LEN-LAYERED 20 ing. REG-PART 35% reg. NOVA-G4 G4 ultra NUTRI-E Nutri-E RANK-MID Len top 40% LEAD-FLAG Yellow 6 PHOTO-FINISH Thousand island salad · ±0 BOOK-OFF …199765 · July 2026

7 of 20 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Yellow 6). Source sheet 50199765 · 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: Thousand island salad dressing · Nearest score peer is Thousand island salad dressing 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 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.

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

1. Hy-vee, cheese balls: 50/100 · 100% of the leader · rank #11. Hy-vee, cheese balls50/1002. Thousand island salad dressing: 50/100 · 100% of the leader · rank #22. Thousand island salad dre…50/1003. California French Style Salad Dressing: 50/100 · 100% of the leader · rank #33. California French Style S…50/1004. Apple Sauce: 50/100 · 100% of the leader · rank #44. Apple Sauce50/1005. Cha-ching, vanilla sugar wafers: 50/100 · 100% of the leader · rank #55. Cha-ching, vanilla sugar …50/100
Nearest cross-brand screening scores for Hy-vee, cheese balls (50/100 on 20 parsed ingredients).
Chart values as text

Unit: PlainFoodSafe screening score out of 100. Data current as of July 2026.

Hy-vee, cheese balls
50/100
Thousand island salad dressing
50/100
California French Style Salad Dressing
50/100
Apple Sauce
50/100
Cha-ching, vanilla sugar wafers
50/100

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. Hy-vee, cheese balls scores 36.1 points below that category average (50/100 vs. 86.1/100), 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 Snacks products

Hy-vee, cheese balls lists 20 ingredients on its label

20 60th percentile a longer ingredient list than 60% of the 81,477 products we track

0–2: 275 products (0%). Below this entry. 2–4: 2,901 products (4%). Below this entry. 4–6: 4,248 products (5%). Below this entry. 6–8: 5,408 products (7%). Below this entry. 8–10: 5,486 products (7%). Below this entry. 10–12: 5,840 products (7%). Below this entry. 12–14: 6,252 products (8%). Below this entry. 14–16: 6,724 products (8%). Below this entry. 16–18: 6,221 products (8%). Below this entry. 18–20: 5,168 products (6%). Below this entry. 20–22: 4,508 products (6%). This entry sits in this band. 22–24: 3,809 products (5%). Above this entry. 24–26: 3,567 products (4%). Above this entry. 26–28: 2,829 products (3%). Above this entry. 28–30: 2,282 products (3%). Above this entry. 30–32: 1,905 products (2%). Above this entry. 32–34: 1,715 products (2%). Above this entry. 34–36: 1,572 products (2%). Above this entry. 36–38: 1,417 products (2%). Above this entry. 38–40: 1,284 products (2%). Above this entry. 40–42: 8,066 products (10%). Above this entry. This product 0 42 every published Snacks product, bucketed by value

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

81,477 products, bucketed in bands of 2. This entry: 20 (60th percentile). Data current as of July 2026.

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.

Full Ingredient List

Degerminated yellow corn meal, vegetable oil (may contain one or more of the following: corn, canola, soybean), whey, maltodextrin, reduced lactose whey, cheddar and blue cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), canola oil, salt, disodium phosphate, artificial colors (yellow 6, yellow 5), citric acid, lactic acid, less than 2% of: silicon dioxide added as an anti-caking agent.

Categories

Snacks

Mid-score cross-brand comparables for Hy-vee, cheese balls

Neighbours outside Hy-Vee near Hy-vee, cheese balls's mid-band score (50/100). The 5 same-brand links above stay within Hy-Vee; these peers cross brands.

Follow the flagged-label evidence

Follow the flagged-label evidence

Yellow 6 is the first flagged ingredient selected from Hy-vee, cheese balls's parsed label. Start with that ingredient’s source context, then compare the rest of this 20-ingredient record.

  • Inspect the FDA SAFFA and CSPI context attached to Yellow 6. Open Yellow 6
  • Compare Hy-vee, cheese balls'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 0075450199765: 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.