Product Insight: lays
lays by Fritolay, Cheetos, Lay's, Ruffles is tracked in PlainIngredients with 7 identified ingredients and carries an overall safety rating of 4.1 out of 5 — a Low-Risk-to-Safe tier backed by FDA and EU regulatory status. On the NOVA processing scale, this product falls into Group 4 (Ultra-processed foods), a standard framework for classifying how heavily food has been industrially modified before reaching the shelf, and no Nutri-Score label has been assigned by Open Food Facts contributors. Within the identified ingredient list, 1 ingredient is currently flagged as Caution or High Risk and warrant individual review via the linked ingredient pages, while 6 ingredients sit at the Low-Risk or Safe end of the scale.
Our composite score weighs each ingredient's U.S. FDA regulatory status (GRAS, Approved, or Banned), European Union food-additive status under Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, any U.S. state-level restrictions, and signals drawn from peer-reviewed toxicology literature. The per-product score is the mean of the per-ingredient ratings and should be read as a structured summary rather than a clinical verdict; edge cases such as cumulative exposure, individual allergies, and dietary interactions are not captured by a single number and are better addressed by reading the individual ingredient pages linked below.
Sources: Open Food Facts (product + ingredient list, CC0 licensed) · FDA SAFFA · EU Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 · U.S. state food-safety statutes
- 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, folic acid), vegetable oil (corn, canola, and/or sunflower oil), whey, cheddar cheese (milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), maltodextrin (made from corn), natural and artificial flavors, salt, whey protein concentrate, monosodium glutamate, lactic acid, citric acid, and artificial color (yellow 6), contains milk ingredients, baked ruffles® cheddar , sour cream flavored potato crisps ingredients: dried potatoes, corn starch, corn oil, sugar, maltodextrin (made from corn), salt, soy lecithin, dextrose, whey, whey protein concentrate, onion powder, cheddar cheese (milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), monosodium glutamate, blue cheese (milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), citric acid, artificial color (yellow 6 lake, yellow 5 lake, yellow 5, yellow 6), skim milk, natural and artificial flavors, garlic powder, lactic acid, disodium inosinate, and disodium guanylate, contains milk and soy ingredien
Data Sources
- Open Food Facts — Product data and ingredient lists
- FDA Substances Added to Food (SAFFA) Inventory — Safety scores
- EU Food Additive Regulations (EC) No 1333/2008
Product Details
- Barcode
- 0028400656351
- NOVA Group
- 4 — Ultra-processed foods
- Available In
- United States
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Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
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