Hostess, cupcakes, candy corn
by Hostess
Open Food Facts label for barcode 0888109111236 · Hostess · Snacks. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.
The verdict
Hostess, cupcakes, candy corn by Hostess scores 35/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 58 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 3 ingredients are flagged for caution. The source parser split this into a very long 58-component record, beginning with Sugar, Water, Bleached Enriched Wheat Flour. 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.
- 35/100
- Avoid safety score
- 3
- Few flagged · of 58 analyzed
- Group 4
- Ultra-processed
- E
- 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.
Composite profile score
One verdict from three independent sources
25/100
Grade F
Ingredient Safety
35/100
FDA/CSPI flagged-ingredient screening
Processing Level
NOVA 4
Ultra-processed foods
Nutrition Grade
E
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.
09111236 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Hostess, cupcakes, candy corn label screening desk
22 of 58 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Polysorbate 60). Source sheet 09111236 · 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: Freeze-dried Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwich · Nearest score peer is Freeze-dried Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwich 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 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.
Nutri-Score assigned its lowest band to this label. The algorithm reserves that grade for nutrition panels where the values it penalises sit well above the components it credits. The two systems on this page measure genuinely different things: a product can hold this grade while carrying no additive flagged by the registries screened below, and a product graded well can carry several. Neither reading substitutes for the other, and the per-component table is where the additive picture is set out.
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.
Cross-brand screening score neighbourhood
How It Compares to Its Category
Among the 88,006 products we've scored in the Snacks category, the average safety score is 86.1/100. Hostess, cupcakes, candy corn scores 51.1 points below that category average (35/100 vs. 86.1/100), 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 Snacks products
Hostess, cupcakes, candy corn lists 58 ingredients on its label
58 98th percentile a longer ingredient list than 98% of the 81,477 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
- 275 products (0%)
- 2–4
- 2,901 products (4%)
- 4–6
- 4,248 products (5%)
- 6–8
- 5,408 products (7%)
- 8–10
- 5,486 products (7%)
- 10–12
- 5,840 products (7%)
- 12–14
- 6,252 products (8%)
- 14–16
- 6,724 products (8%)
- 16–18
- 6,221 products (8%)
- 18–20
- 5,168 products (6%)
- 20–22
- 4,508 products (6%)
- 22–24
- 3,809 products (5%)
- 24–26
- 3,567 products (4%)
- 26–28
- 2,829 products (3%)
- 28–30
- 2,282 products (3%)
- 30–32
- 1,905 products (2%)
- 32–34
- 1,715 products (2%)
- 34–36
- 1,572 products (2%)
- 36–38
- 1,417 products (2%)
- 38–40
- 1,284 products (2%)
- 40 and above
- 8,066 products (10%)
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 81,477 Snacks 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
How the 35/100 score is built
Screening starts at 100 and subtracts severity-weighted FDA SAFFA / CSPI flags (3 flagged of 58 labeled). The floor is 0 when deductions exceed 100.
Full Ingredient List
Sugar, water, bleached enriched wheat flour [wheat flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate (iron), thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, modified corn starch, eggs, egg whites, nonfat dry milk, dairy blend (soy flour, whey, calcium and sodium caseinate, soy protein isolate), salt, sodium acid pyrophosphate, natural and artificial flavors, baking soda, sorbic acid (to retain freshness), stabilizer blend (guar gum, cellulose gum), soybean oil, monocalcium phosphate, fumaric acid, enzymes, yellow 5, yellow 6, contains 2% or less: animal and vegetable shortening (beef tallow, hydrogenated beef tallow, cottonseed oil, mono and diglycerides, polysorbate 60, soy lecithin), palm oil, calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, agar, locust bean gum, sunflower oil, disodium phosphate, corn starch, modified corn starch, corn syrup solids, dextrose, disodium phosphate, sodium stearate, potassium sorbate (to retain freshness), dextrin, confectioners glaze, carnauba wax, titanium dioxide.
Other products containing Calcium And Sodium Caseinate
Calcium And Sodium Caseinate is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 36 products across the catalog. See its safety profile.
Categories
More from Hostess
Lower-score cross-brand comparables for Hostess, cupcakes, candy corn
Neighbours outside Hostess in the same lower screening band as Hostess, cupcakes, candy corn (35/100). The 5 same-brand links above stay within Hostess; these peers cross brands.
Nearest screening score
Nearest cross-brand products by screening score (3 flagged of 58 on 0888109111236).
Long-label peers (21+ ingredients)
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (58 on 0888109111236).
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Polysorbate 60 is the first flagged ingredient selected from Hostess, cupcakes, candy corn's parsed label. Start with that ingredient’s source context, then compare the rest of this 58-ingredient record.
- Inspect the FDA SAFFA and CSPI context attached to Polysorbate 60. Open Polysorbate 60
- Compare Hostess, cupcakes, candy corn's 3 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 0888109111236: 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.