Sugar Free Bbq Sauce
by Hess's Barbecue Catering Inc.
Scores 80/100 on FDA SAFFA + CSPI ingredient analysis , with 2 flagged ingredients identified.
The verdict
Sugar Free Bbq Sauce by Hess's Barbecue Catering Inc. scores 80/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 19 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 2 ingredients are flagged for caution. The 19-component label is layered, beginning with Water, Maltitol, Tomato Powder. 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.
- 80/100
- Caution safety score
- 2
- flagged ingredients of 19 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 Sugar Free Bbq Sauce
Sugar Free Bbq Sauce by Hess's Barbecue Catering Inc. carries a composite safety score of 80/100, which we classify as "Caution" on our four-tier shelf-label framework.
Of the 19 ingredients parsed from this label, 7 are covered by a regulator or watchdog we screen against (Sulfites, Maltitol, BHT and 4 others), with 4 carrying an FDA Substances Added to Food (SAFFA) status and 7 a CSPI Chemical Cuisine rating. The remaining 12 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, Sugar Free Bbq Sauce 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.
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 | 80/100 | 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 31,268 products we've scored in the Condiments category, the average safety score is 98.3/100. Sugar Free Bbq Sauce scores 18.3 points below that category average (80/100 vs. 98.3/100), 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 Condiments products
Sugar Free Bbq Sauce lists 19 ingredients on its label
19 72nd percentile a longer ingredient list than 72% of the 27,084 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
- 185 products (1%)
- 2–4
- 1,023 products (4%)
- 4–6
- 1,394 products (5%)
- 6–8
- 2,087 products (8%)
- 8–10
- 2,813 products (10%)
- 10–12
- 3,061 products (11%)
- 12–14
- 2,819 products (10%)
- 14–16
- 2,728 products (10%)
- 16–18
- 2,440 products (9%)
- 18–20
- 2,052 products (8%)
- 20–22
- 1,563 products (6%)
- 22–24
- 1,254 products (5%)
- 24–26
- 935 products (3%)
- 26–28
- 697 products (3%)
- 28–30
- 549 products (2%)
- 30–32
- 423 products (2%)
- 32–34
- 248 products (1%)
- 34–36
- 193 products (1%)
- 36–38
- 140 products (1%)
- 38–40
- 133 products (0%)
- 40 and above
- 347 products (1%)
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 27,084 Condiments 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
Water, maltitol, tomato powder, modified food starch, salt, dehydrated onion and garlic, distilled white vinegar, spices, lemon juice powder (corn syrup solids, lemon juice, lemon oil, bht), caramel color (contains sulfites), potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate (preservative) natural smoke flavor
Other products containing Dehydrated Onion And Garlic
Dehydrated Onion And Garlic is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 493 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.
Cross-brand products with similar screening profiles
Two PlainFoodSafe-derived peer sets for Sugar Free Bbq Sauce, both outside the Hess's Barbecue Catering Inc. 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 (80/100 here).
Similar ingredient-count peers
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (19 here).
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.
