Flamin' Hot Crunchy
Flamin' Hot Crunchy by Cheetos has 6 tracked ingredients, with an overall safety score of 3.8 out of 5, 0.32 points below the 4.12/5 average across all scored products, and 1 of its ingredient carries a low safety rating.
- Safety score 0.32 points below the 4.12/5 average across all scored products
- NOVA processing classification: group 4
Snacks / Salty snacks / Appetizers / Chips and fries / Crisps / Corn chips
How This Score Is Built
PlainIngredients safety scores are a transparent, editorially-derived index synthesizing FDA status, EU regulatory status, US state actions, and published research into a single 1-5 scale, not an official government rating. 6 of 6 ingredients tracked for Flamin' Hot Crunchy have a scored rating so far. Data current as of 2026-09-07.
Sourced from Open Food Facts, FDA, and EU regulatory records. Verify with the FDA → See our full scoring methodology.
Where Flamin' Hot Crunchy sits nationally
Average ingredient safety score vs. 58,710 other scored products in PlainIngredients
3.8 Top 84% higher than 16% of 58,710 scored products
Average ingredient safety score (1 = highest risk, 5 = safest), bucketed by value
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more scored products. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source PlainIngredients ingredient safety index · 2026-09-07
- Monosodium Glutamate - Safety score: 2/5
Ingredient Safety Breakdown
Processing Level
Ultra-processed products are formulations made mostly or entirely from substances derived from foods and additives. They typically contain ingredients not commonly used in home cooking.
Full Ingredients List
enriched corn meal (corn meal, ferrous sulfate, niacin, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, and folic acid), vegetable oil (corn, canola and/or sunflower oil), and 2% or less of the following: maltodextrin (made from corn), salt, potassium salt, sugar, monosodium glutamate, yeast extract, citric acid, artificial color (red 40 lake, yellow 6 lake, yellow 6, yellow 5), cheddar cheese (milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), onion powder, whey, whey protein concentrate, garlic powder, natural flavors, buttermilk, sodium diacetate, disodium inosinate, and disodium guanylate. contains milk ingredients.
Compare beyond brand
Nationwide peers by additive safety & ingredient depth
Two PlainIngredients-derived comparison paths for Flamin' Hot Crunchy: nearest mean mapped additive safety score and nearest mapped ingredient count among indexable products with at least 3 scored additives, excluding same-brand siblings. Scores describe regulatory and research signals on additives, not dietary advice.
Similar mean additive safety
Nearest products by average mapped safety score. This record: 3.8/5.
Similar mapped ingredient depth
Nearest products by count of scored mapped additives. This record: 6.
Product Details
- Brand
- Cheetos
- Barcode
- 0028400040129
- NOVA Group
- 4 — Ultra-processed foods
- Available In
- United States
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Frequently asked questions
How does Flamin' Hot Crunchy's safety score compare to other products?
With an average ingredient safety score of 3.8/5, Flamin' Hot Crunchy sits behind 84% of the 58,710 PlainIngredients products carrying a scored ingredient list, 0.32 points below the 4.12/5 average across all scored products.
How should Flamin' Hot Crunchy's 3.8/5 score be read?
The 1-5 scale (5 safest) comes from FDA and EU regulatory status per ingredient. Flamin' Hot Crunchy's mapped ingredients average out to 3.8/5, which is the Low Risk tier.
Every figure on PlainIngredients is rendered directly from FDA, EU, EFSA and U.S. state regulatory records, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.