Meijer, free & light, drink mix, pink lemonade
by Meijer
Scores 45/100 on FDA SAFFA + CSPI ingredient analysis , with 3 flagged ingredients identified.
The verdict
Meijer, free & light, drink mix, pink lemonade by Meijer scores 45/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 12 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 3 ingredients are flagged for caution. This is a focused 12-component label led by Citric Acid, Maltodextrin, Natural Flavor; 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.
- 45/100
- Avoid safety score
- 3
- flagged ingredients of 12 analyzed
- Group 4
- Ultra-processed
- 0719283409812
- 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.
What the Data Says About Meijer, free & light, drink mix, pink lemonade
Meijer, free & light, drink mix, pink lemonade by Meijer carries a composite safety score of 45/100, which we classify as "Avoid" on our four-tier shelf-label framework.
Of the 12 ingredients parsed from this label, 8 are covered by a regulator or watchdog we screen against (Calcium Silicate, Magnesium Oxide, Aspartame and 5 others), with 8 carrying an FDA Substances Added to Food (SAFFA) status and 5 a CSPI Chemical Cuisine rating. The remaining 4 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 3 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, Meijer, free & light, drink mix, pink lemonade 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 lowest of the four bands. That is where labels land when registry-rated components drive the greater part of the deduction from the index. The band name is drawn from the framework's own scale and is distinct from the ratings the registries themselves assign to individual substances, which are shown per component below. A single heavily rated component and several lightly rated ones can produce the same band, so the component table is the more precise reading of the two.
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.
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.
Safety Profile at a Glance
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| PlainFoodSafe Score | 45/100 | FDA SAFFA + CSPI composite |
| Flagged ingredients | 3 | CSPI/FDA review |
| NOVA processing group | Group 4 | OpenFoodFacts |
| Nutri-Score | Not available | OpenFoodFacts |
Composite metric derived from FDA SAFFA, CSPI Chemical Cuisine, OpenFoodFacts. See methodology.
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. Meijer, free & light, drink mix, pink lemonade scores 45.5 points below that category average (45/100 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
Meijer, free & light, drink mix, pink lemonade lists 12 ingredients on its label
12 68th percentile a longer ingredient list than 68% 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
Citric acid, maltodextrin, natural flavor, potassium citrate, aspartame**, magnesium oxide, contains less than 2% of:acesulfame potassium, gum arabic, calcium silicate, soy lecithin, artificial color, red 40.
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.
