Duncan Hines Decadent Red Velvet Brownie Mix, Red Velvet, Red Velvet

Pinnacle Foods Group LLC · Cake, Cookie & Cupcake Mixes · barcode 00644209414901

What stands out

From the label
The ingredients list Partially hydrogenated oils and Titanium dioxide, which have stricter rules elsewhere. Strictest: No longer allowed by FDA; not approved in the EU. Details

Lab testsNo lab has published results for this exact product.
RecallsNo FDA recall lists this barcode.
Additives2 ingredients have stricter rules elsewhere. Strictest: No longer allowed by FDA; not approved in the EU. Which
TypicalFDA's tests of cake, cookie & cupcake mixes show what's typical. See levels

Additives with restrictions somewhere

From the ingredient list on file (label data dated 2022-05-23). Recipes change, so check the package you have.

Rules that apply to more than one of these

Texas: Warning label required from 2027-01-01 Labels developed on or after January 1, 2027 must warn that the product contains an ingredient not recommended for consumption in Australia, Canada, the EU or the UK. (SB 25 (2025)) Source. Applies to all of them.
Louisiana: Warning label required from 2028-01-01 Products containing it must carry a QR code disclosure from January 1, 2028. (SB 14, Act 463 (2025)) Source. Applies to Partially hydrogenated oils, Bleached flour.
US (FDA): Allowed Source. Applies to Bleached flour, DATEM.

Partially hydrogenated oils

US (FDA): Authorization revoked FDA determined in 2015 that they are no longer generally recognized as safe; makers had to remove them, with final compliance dates in 2018-2020. Labels on file may predate that. (80 FR 34650 (2015)) Source

Titanium dioxide (E171)

US (FDA): Allowed FDA allows it as a color additive, up to 1% of the food's weight. Source
EU: Removed from approved list from 2022-08-07 Removed as a food additive in 2022; food made under the old rules could be sold until August 7, 2022. (Regulation (EU) 2022/63) Source

DATEM (E472e)

EU: Allowed On the EU's list of approved additives as E472e. (Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008) Source

Typical for cake, cookie & cupcake mixes

FDA doesn't test this exact kind of food, so these are the closest foods it does test. Treat them as a rough guide.

Lead: typically 4.01 ppb (FDA, 57 samples, 2017-2020). A toddler reaches FDA's daily limit at about 380 g (13 oz) a day; an adult at about 1.5 kg (3.3 lb).
One serving (0.0625 package, 31 g, from the label):
8% of a toddler's daily limit
2% of an adult's daily limit
Cadmium: typically 10.1 ppb (FDA, 57 samples, 2017-2020). A toddler reaches EPA's daily limit at about 1.3 kg (2.9 lb) a day; an adult at about 6.1 kg (13 lb).
One serving (0.0625 package, 31 g, from the label):
2% of a toddler's daily limit
under 1% of an adult's daily limit
Arsenic (total): typically 1.96 ppb (FDA, 57 samples, 2017-2020). No US agency limit we can cite.
Perchlorate: typically 1.02 ppb (FDA, 59 samples, 2008-2012). A toddler reaches EPA's daily limit at about 5.2 kg (11 lb) a day; an adult at about 24 kg (53 lb).
One serving (0.0625 package, 31 g, from the label):
under 1% of a toddler's daily limit
under 1% of an adult's daily limit
Mercury: usually below 1 ppb, the lab's limit, in FDA's samples.

FDA samples behind these numbers

Lead in Brownie: found in 3 of 3 samples, average 6.7, highest 8.7 ppb (2018-2020)
Lead in Cake, chocolate with chocolate icing: found in 27 of 27 samples, average 8.92, highest 16 ppb (2017-2020)
Lead in Cake, white with white icing: found in 9 of 27 samples, average 2.56, highest 17 ppb (2017-2020)
Cadmium in Brownie: found in 3 of 3 samples, average 21.3, highest 34 ppb (2018-2020)
Cadmium in Cake, chocolate with chocolate icing: found in 27 of 27 samples, average 17.6, highest 40 ppb (2017-2020)
Cadmium in Cake, white with white icing: found in 27 of 27 samples, average 4.13, highest 6.4 ppb (2017-2020)
Mercury in Brownie: found in 0 of 3 samples, all below 1 ppb (2018-2020)
Mercury in Cake, chocolate with chocolate icing: found in 9 of 27 samples, average 0.45, highest 1.9 ppb (2017-2020)
Mercury in Cake, white with white icing: found in 0 of 27 samples, all below 1 ppb (2017-2020)
Arsenic (total) in Brownie: found in 2 of 3 samples, average 2.27, highest 3.7 ppb (2018-2020)
Arsenic (total) in Cake, chocolate with chocolate icing: found in 25 of 27 samples, average 3.6, highest 4.6 ppb (2017-2020)
Arsenic (total) in Cake, white with white icing: found in 10 of 27 samples, average 1.72, highest 7.4 ppb (2017-2020)
Perchlorate in Brownie: found in 7 of 19 samples, average 1.37, highest 7 ppb (2008-2012)
Perchlorate in Cake, chocolate w/ icing: found in 12 of 20 samples, average 2.76, highest 14 ppb (2008-2012)
Perchlorate in Cake, white w/ icing (formerly yellow cake): found in 12 of 20 samples, average 1.88, highest 9 ppb (2008-2012)

"Typically" is FDA's middle sample. Daily amounts use the long-run average and each chemical's daily limit (EPA reference dose, or FDA's level for lead) for a 33-lb toddler and a 154-lb adult. ppb = micrograms per kilogram of food. Source: FDA Total Diet Study.

Not tested

No published results for this product cover: Metals, Perchlorate, Phthalates (plastic softeners), Phthalate substitutes, Bisphenols. That means nobody has published a test, not that these are absent.

Ingredients (from the label)

BROWNIE MIX (SUGAR, ENRICHED BLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR [FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID], COCOA POWDER PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, VEGETABLES OIL SHORTENING [PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL], WHEAT STARCH. CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: DEXTROSE, SALT ,ARTIFICIAL [SODIUM BICARBONATE]). CREAM CHEESE FLAVORED TOPPING MIX (DEXTROSE, WATER, SUGAR, CREAM CHEESE POWDER [([PASTEURIZED CREAM, CHEESE CULTURE, SALT, CAROB GUM AND GUAR GUM) DISODIUM PHOSPHATE], MODIFIED CORN STARCH, BUTTER [CREAM, SALT], COLOR [TITANIUM DIOXIDE], GELLAN GUM [SODIUM CITRATE, SUGAR, GELLAN GUM], LACTIC ACID, SALT, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, DATEM, POTASSIUM SORBATE AND ARTIFICIAL BENZOATE AS PRESERVATIVES, XANTHAN GUM, CITRIC ACID).

From USDA FoodData Central, label dated 2022-05-23. Labels change; check the package.

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