Twinkies
by Hostess
Open Food Facts label for barcode 0888109254759 · Hostess · Snacks. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.
The verdict
Twinkies by Hostess scores 50/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 39 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 2 ingredients are flagged for caution. The source parser split this into a very long 39-component record, beginning with Sugar, Water, Enriched 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.
- 50/100
- Concern safety score
- 2
- Few flagged · of 39 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
33/100
Grade F
Ingredient Safety
50/100
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.
09254759 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Twinkies label screening desk
14 of 39 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Polysorbate 60). Source sheet 09254759 · 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: Golden Sponge Cakes With Creme Filing, Golden Creme · Nearest score peer is Golden Sponge Cakes With Creme Filing, Golden Creme at the same screening score.
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 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. Twinkies scores 36.1 points below that category average (50/100 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
Twinkies lists 39 ingredients on its label
39 89th percentile a longer ingredient list than 89% 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 50/100 score is built
Screening starts at 100 and subtracts severity-weighted FDA SAFFA / CSPI flags (2 flagged of 39 labeled). The floor is 0 when deductions exceed 100.
Full Ingredient List
edients: sugar, water, enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley r, niacin, ferrous sulfate or reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, acid), high fructose corn syrup, tallow, dextrose, egg, contains 2% or less: ean oil, corn starch, modified cornstarch, hydrogenated tallow, whey, glycerin, sodium acid pyrophosphate, baking soda, enzymes, sorbic acid and potassium te (to retain freshness), cottonseed oil, mono and diglycerides, cellulose gum, m stearoyl lactylate, soy lecithin, xanthan gum, polysorbate 60, monocalcium hate, natural and artificial flavor, yellow 5, red 40, 528605 ns egg, milk, soy, wheat s bioengineered food ingredients
Other products containing Ferrous Sulfate Or Reduced Iron
Ferrous Sulfate Or Reduced Iron is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 244 products across the catalog. See its safety profile.
Categories
More from Hostess
Mid-score cross-brand comparables for Twinkies
Neighbours outside Hostess near Twinkies's mid-band score (50/100). The 5 same-brand links above stay within Hostess; these peers cross brands.
Same mid-band screening score
Nearest cross-brand products by screening score (2 flagged of 39 on 0888109254759).
Long-label peers (21+ ingredients)
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (39 on 0888109254759).
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Polysorbate 60 is the first flagged ingredient selected from Twinkies's parsed label. Start with that ingredient’s source context, then compare the rest of this 39-ingredient record.
- Inspect the FDA SAFFA and CSPI context attached to Polysorbate 60. Open Polysorbate 60
- Compare Twinkies'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 0888109254759: 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.