Sardines
by Aldi
Open Food Facts label for barcode 4099100095968 · Aldi · Seafood. Screening numbers and flags live in the verdict band below. This hero only situates the source record.
The verdict
Sardines by Aldi scores 90/100 in PlainFoodSafe's ingredient screening. We compared its 14 labeled ingredients with FDA SAFFA regulatory records and CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings; 2 ingredients are flagged for caution. This is a focused 14-component label led by Sardines, Water, Maltodextrin; 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.
- 90/100
- Safe safety score
- 2
- Few flagged · of 14 analyzed
- Group 4
- Ultra-processed
- B
- 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
68/100
Grade B-
Ingredient Safety
90/100
FDA/CSPI flagged-ingredient screening
Processing Level
NOVA 4
Ultra-processed foods
Nutrition Grade
B
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.
00095968 · Open Food Facts · July 2026
Sardines label screening desk
6 of 14 parsed ingredients carry FDA SAFFA or CSPI coverage (lead: Polysorbate 80). Source sheet 00095968 · 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: Cream Bars Orange · Nearest score peer is Cream Bars Orange at the same screening score.
Screening model notes
How Nutri-Score, NOVA, and list length read this record
Within the four-tier shelf-label framework this site publishes, the composite for this product falls in the highest band. That band is defined by a threshold on the derived score alone: it is where labels land once components carrying caution-or-worse registry ratings contribute little or nothing to the deduction. The band is a summary of what the screened registries return for the components that were parsed, so it inherits their coverage gaps — a component absent from both registries neither raises nor lowers the figure. The threshold and the weighting behind it are set out on the methodology page.
The Nutri-Score algorithm returned its second band for this label. That grade typically describes a nutrition panel whose favourable components register clearly in the model without fully offsetting its energy or sodium terms. Because the calculation is a single points balance rather than a set of independent thresholds, a strong fibre or protein figure can lift a panel into this band even where one penalised nutrient sits high. The grade summarises the declared panel alone and carries no information about the additive ratings screened below.
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.
Cross-brand screening score neighbourhood
How It Compares to Its Category
Among the 12,141 products we've scored in the Canned foods category, the average safety score is 98.5/100. Sardines scores 8.5 points below that category average (90/100 vs. 98.5/100), 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 Seafood products
Sardines lists 14 ingredients on its label
14 74th percentile a longer ingredient list than 74% of the 4,524 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
- 39 products (1%)
- 2–4
- 1,326 products (29%)
- 4–6
- 1,158 products (26%)
- 6–8
- 327 products (7%)
- 8–10
- 167 products (4%)
- 10–12
- 156 products (3%)
- 12–14
- 185 products (4%)
- 14–16
- 129 products (3%)
- 16–18
- 152 products (3%)
- 18–20
- 124 products (3%)
- 20–22
- 112 products (2%)
- 22–24
- 74 products (2%)
- 24–26
- 77 products (2%)
- 26–28
- 75 products (2%)
- 28–30
- 53 products (1%)
- 30–32
- 56 products (1%)
- 32–34
- 52 products (1%)
- 34–36
- 37 products (1%)
- 36–38
- 25 products (1%)
- 38–40
- 20 products (0%)
- 40 and above
- 180 products (4%)
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 4,524 Seafood 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 90/100 score is built
Screening starts at 100 and subtracts severity-weighted FDA SAFFA / CSPI flags (2 flagged of 14 labeled). The floor is 0 when deductions exceed 100.
Full Ingredient List
SARDINES, WATER, MALTODEXTRIN, ACETIC ACID, SALT, PAPRIKA, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, SPICE EXTRACTIVES (INCLUDING PAPRIKA [COLOR]), XANTHAN GUM, POLYSORBATE 80, CARAMEL COLOR. CONTAINS: FISH (SARDINES) 00160
Other products containing Sardines
Sardines is the least common ingredient on this label, appearing in 313 products across the catalog. See its safety profile.
Categories
More from Aldi
High-score cross-brand comparables for Sardines
Neighbours outside Aldi with screening scores in the same high band as Sardines (90/100 here). The 5 same-brand links above stay within Aldi; these peers cross brands.
Same high-band screening score
Nearest cross-brand products by screening score (2 flagged of 14 on 4099100095968).
Medium-label peers (9–20 ingredients)
Nearest cross-brand labels by linked ingredient count (14 on 4099100095968).
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Follow the flagged-label evidence
Polysorbate 80 is the first flagged ingredient selected from Sardines's parsed label. Start with that ingredient’s source context, then compare the rest of this 14-ingredient record.
- Inspect the FDA SAFFA and CSPI context attached to Polysorbate 80. Open Polysorbate 80
- Compare Sardines'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 4099100095968: 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.