Sam's Cola
by Sam's
Scores 65/100 on FDA SAFFA + CSPI ingredient analysis , with 3 flagged ingredients identified.
The verdict
Sam's Cola by Sam's scores 65/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 10 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 3 ingredients are flagged for caution. This is a focused 10-component label led by Carbonated Water, Caramel Coloring, Phosphoric Acid; 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.
- 65/100
- Concern safety score
- 3
- flagged ingredients of 10 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.
42088815 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Sam's Cola label screening desk
Sam's Cola screens 65/100 with 3 flagged of 10 parsed ingredients. 7 of 10 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Aspartame). Derived index from public OFF + FDA SAFFA + CSPI data — not an official FDA rating; see methodology. Methodology · Read with nearest score peer: Ice Cream Cups (0 pts).
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 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 parsed into a small number of components. On a short list the registry screen covers close to everything the packaging declares, and any single matched component accounts for a correspondingly large share of the composite. Short lists also leave less room for parsing error, since there are fewer separators and qualifiers for the extraction to resolve.
Cross-brand screening score neighbourhood
How It Compares to Its Category
Among the 32,623 products we've scored in the Beverages category, the average safety score is 90.5/100. Sam's Cola scores 25.5 points below that category average (65/100 vs. 90.5/100), 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 Beverages products
Sam's Cola lists 10 ingredients on its label
10 56th percentile a longer ingredient list than 56% of the 16,917 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
- 161 products (1%)
- 2–4
- 2,220 products (13%)
- 4–6
- 1,693 products (10%)
- 6–8
- 2,560 products (15%)
- 8–10
- 2,838 products (17%)
- 10–12
- 2,103 products (12%)
- 12–14
- 1,440 products (9%)
- 14–16
- 996 products (6%)
- 16–18
- 599 products (4%)
- 18–20
- 402 products (2%)
- 20–22
- 347 products (2%)
- 22–24
- 279 products (2%)
- 24–26
- 256 products (2%)
- 26–28
- 215 products (1%)
- 28–30
- 132 products (1%)
- 30–32
- 65 products (0%)
- 32–34
- 52 products (0%)
- 34–36
- 47 products (0%)
- 36–38
- 43 products (0%)
- 38–40
- 51 products (0%)
- 40 and above
- 418 products (2%)
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 16,917 Beverages 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
Carbonated water, caramel color, phosphoric acid, potassium citrate, aspartame, potassium benzoate (preservative), acesulfame potassium, caffeine, natural flavor.
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 Sam's
Cross-brand products with similar screening profiles
Two PlainFoodSafe-derived peer sets for Sam's Cola, both outside the Sam's 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 (65/100 here).
Similar ingredient-count peers
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (10 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.
