Equal
Open Food Facts label for barcode 0300258900078 · Merisant Company. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.
The verdict
Equal by Merisant Company scores 70/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 3 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 2 ingredients are flagged for caution. Its short parsed label begins Dextrose With Maltodextrin, Aspartame, Acesulfame Potassium, so the useful next step is to inspect those few components directly rather than infer from the composite score. This is not a recall, allergy, medical, or dietary-safety determination.
- 70/100
- Caution safety score
- 2
- Few flagged · of 3 analyzed
- Group 4
- Ultra-processed
- 0300258900078
- Barcode (UPC/EAN)
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
50/100
Grade C-
Ingredient Safety
70/100
FDA/CSPI flagged-ingredient screening
Processing Level
NOVA 4
Ultra-processed foods
Nutrition Grade
N/A
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.
58900078 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Equal label screening desk
2 of 3 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Aspartame). Source sheet 58900078 · 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: Zero Calorie Sweetener · Nearest score peer is Zero Calorie Sweetener 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 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.
No Nutri-Score grade is present for this record in the OpenFoodFacts snapshot this page is built from. The nutritional dimension is absent rather than assessed and withheld: the grade depends on a complete declared nutrition panel, and community-contributed records vary in how much of that panel they carry. Nothing about the missing grade implies anything either way about the panel itself. The screen below covers additive ratings only and does not depend on the nutrition figures.
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
Ingredient-list length vs every product we publish
Equal lists 3 ingredients on its label
3 4th percentile a longer ingredient list than 4% of the 359,392 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
- 6,050 products (2%)
- 2–4
- 24,522 products (7%)
- 4–6
- 31,054 products (9%)
- 6–8
- 30,981 products (9%)
- 8–10
- 31,618 products (9%)
- 10–12
- 29,943 products (8%)
- 12–14
- 28,403 products (8%)
- 14–16
- 27,417 products (8%)
- 16–18
- 24,508 products (7%)
- 18–20
- 19,062 products (5%)
- 20–22
- 14,679 products (4%)
- 22–24
- 12,238 products (3%)
- 24–26
- 10,830 products (3%)
- 26–28
- 9,344 products (3%)
- 28–30
- 7,955 products (2%)
- 30–32
- 6,753 products (2%)
- 32–34
- 5,918 products (2%)
- 34–36
- 5,282 products (1%)
- 36–38
- 4,531 products (1%)
- 38–40
- 4,063 products (1%)
- 40 and above
- 24,241 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. No category with enough published products was available for this record, so the comparison runs against the whole published catalogue.
Ingredient Safety Analysis
How the 70/100 score is built
Screening starts at 100 and subtracts severity-weighted FDA SAFFA / CSPI flags (2 flagged of 3 labeled). The floor is 0 when deductions exceed 100.
Full Ingredient List
Dextrose with maltodextrin, aspartame, acesulfame potassium.
Other products containing Dextrose With Maltodextrin
Dextrose With Maltodextrin is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 134 products across the catalog. See its safety profile.
More from Merisant Company
Mid-score cross-brand comparables for Equal
Neighbours outside Merisant Company near Equal's mid-band score (70/100). The 5 same-brand links above stay within Merisant Company; these peers cross brands.
Same mid-band screening score
Nearest cross-brand products by screening score: 67% of this label's ingredients carry a caution flag.
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Aspartame is the first flagged ingredient selected from Equal's parsed label. Start with that ingredient’s source context, then compare the rest of this 3-ingredient record.
- Inspect the FDA SAFFA and CSPI context attached to Aspartame. Open Aspartame
- Compare Equal'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 0300258900078: 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.