Potato Salad
by Stars
Scores 70/100 on FDA SAFFA + CSPI ingredient analysis , with 2 flagged ingredients identified.
The verdict
Potato Salad by Stars scores 70/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 36 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 2 ingredients are flagged for caution. The source parser split this into a very long 36-component record, beginning with Potatoes, Mayonnaise, Soybean Oil. That density can include amounts and label fragments, so verify the physical label before relying on ingredient order or completeness. This is not a recall, allergy, medical, or dietary-safety determination.
- 70/100
- Caution safety score
- 2
- flagged ingredients of 36 analyzed
- Group 4
- Ultra-processed
- C
- 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.
What the Data Says About Potato Salad
Potato Salad by Stars carries a composite safety score of 70/100, which we classify as "Caution" on our four-tier shelf-label framework.
Of the 36 ingredients parsed from this label, 10 are covered by a regulator or watchdog we screen against (Polysorbate 80, Calcium Chloride, Sodium Benzoate and 7 others), with 7 carrying an FDA Substances Added to Food (SAFFA) status and 8 a CSPI Chemical Cuisine rating. The remaining 26 ingredients appear in neither registry, so they neither raise nor lower the score. Each additive rated caution-or-worse penalizes the composite. Product data originates from the OpenFoodFacts collaborative catalog; safety annotations come from federal regulators and the Center for Science in the Public Interest. This score is a transparent derived index we compute from that public data, not an official FDA rating or endorsement; see the Methodology page for the exact weighting.
Our scan identified 2 flagged ingredients in this product, components that at least one official source has classified as requiring caution, targeted avoidance, or further evaluation. Flagged ingredients are the items most likely to surface in FDA inspection findings, state-level ingredient bans, or outbreak-related recall notices, so the per-ingredient breakdown below is the most useful lens for anyone screening this product for a specific dietary concern.
On the NOVA processing scale, Potato Salad is classified as Group 4 (Ultra-processed). NOVA measures industrial processing intensity rather than ingredient-level safety, so it complements the SAFFA and CSPI ratings: a product can be clean on additive flags but heavily processed, or lightly processed but carry individually flagged ingredients. Combining both lenses gives a fuller picture than either alone.
How the three scores on this page were derived
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 settled on its middle grade here, the band the algorithm produces when the penalty and credit sides of its nutrient ledger come out close to balanced. A mid-scale grade is a statement about the panel as a whole rather than about any single nutrient, and products arrive at it by very different routes: a moderate profile across every term, or high marks on some offset by heavy penalties on others. The grade is computed separately from the ingredient screen below and the two are not comparable measures.
The declared list is among the longer ones in this catalogue. A component set this wide means the screen returns many individual ratings, and the composite accumulates a large number of small contributions instead of turning on a handful of entries. At this length the per-component table below is substantially more informative than the single figure, because the figure compresses a great deal of variation into one number.
Safety Profile at a Glance
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| PlainFoodSafe Score | 70/100 | FDA SAFFA + CSPI composite |
| Flagged ingredients | 2 | CSPI/FDA review |
| NOVA processing group | Group 4 | OpenFoodFacts |
| Nutri-Score | C | OpenFoodFacts |
Composite metric derived from FDA SAFFA, CSPI Chemical Cuisine, OpenFoodFacts. See methodology.
How It Compares to Its Category
Among the 15,626 products we've scored in the Meals category, the average safety score is 93.6/100. Potato Salad scores 23.6 points below that category average (70/100 vs. 93.6/100), 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 Meals products
Potato Salad lists 36 ingredients on its label
36 64th percentile a longer ingredient list than 64% of the 11,283 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
- 12 products (0%)
- 2–4
- 83 products (1%)
- 4–6
- 127 products (1%)
- 6–8
- 208 products (2%)
- 8–10
- 311 products (3%)
- 10–12
- 316 products (3%)
- 12–14
- 409 products (4%)
- 14–16
- 479 products (4%)
- 16–18
- 538 products (5%)
- 18–20
- 549 products (5%)
- 20–22
- 549 products (5%)
- 22–24
- 551 products (5%)
- 24–26
- 554 products (5%)
- 26–28
- 550 products (5%)
- 28–30
- 572 products (5%)
- 30–32
- 516 products (5%)
- 32–34
- 466 products (4%)
- 34–36
- 456 products (4%)
- 36–38
- 440 products (4%)
- 38–40
- 389 products (3%)
- 40 and above
- 3,208 products (28%)
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 11,283 Meals 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
Potatoes, mayonnaise (soybean oil, eggs, water, distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, salt, spice, calcium disodium edta), celery, pickle relish (cucumbers, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, vinegar, salt, xanthan gum, alum, calcium chloride, sodium benzoate (preservative), natural flavor, polysorbate 80), sugar, red peppers (red peppers, water, citric acid), mustard (water, distilled vinegar, mustard seed, salt, turmeric), salt, xanthan gum, apple cider vinegar, sodium benzoate gum, apple cider vinegar, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservatives), turmeric, onion powder, black pepper, food color (fd&c yellow #5).
Other products containing Food Color
Food Color is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 92 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.
Related
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.
