Caribou Coffee Pretzel Rods Dipped In Milk Chocolate And White Confectioner's Coating

Caribou Coffee Company, Inc. · Chocolate · barcode 00798493143884

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 chocolate show what's typical. See levels
Others3 other chocolate products have lab results. Compare them

Additives with restrictions somewhere

From the ingredient list on file (label data dated 2021-10-28). 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.

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
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

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

Typical for chocolate

What FDA found when it bought and tested this kind of food across the US. These are not tests of this product.

Lead: typically 4.05 ppb (FDA, 6 samples, 2018-2020). A toddler reaches FDA's daily limit at about 550 g (19 oz) a day; an adult at about 2.2 kg (4.9 lb).
One serving (1 pretzel, 28 g, from the label):
5% of a toddler's daily limit
1% of an adult's daily limit
Cadmium: typically 18 ppb (FDA, 6 samples, 2018-2020). A toddler reaches EPA's daily limit at about 840 g (30 oz) a day; an adult at about 3.9 kg (8.6 lb).
One serving (1 pretzel, 28 g, from the label):
3% of a toddler's daily limit
under 1% of an adult's daily limit
Arsenic (total): typically 3.1 ppb (FDA, 6 samples, 2018-2020). No US agency limit we can cite.
Perchlorate: typically 5.98 ppb (FDA, 40 samples, 2008-2012). A toddler reaches EPA's daily limit at about 1.8 kg (4 lb) a day; an adult at about 8.6 kg (19 lb).
One serving (1 pretzel, 28 g, from the label):
2% 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 Candy bar, chocolate, nougat, with nuts: found in 0 of 3 samples, all below 4 ppb (2018-2020)
Lead in Candy bar, milk chocolate, plain: found in 3 of 3 samples, average 7.93, highest 8.3 ppb (2018-2020)
Cadmium in Candy bar, chocolate, nougat, with nuts: found in 3 of 3 samples, average 15.7, highest 17 ppb (2018-2020)
Cadmium in Candy bar, milk chocolate, plain: found in 3 of 3 samples, average 20, highest 26 ppb (2018-2020)
Mercury in Candy bar, chocolate, nougat, with nuts: found in 0 of 3 samples, all below 1 ppb (2018-2020)
Mercury in Candy bar, milk chocolate, plain: found in 1 of 3 samples, average 0.57, highest 1.7 ppb (2018-2020)
Arsenic (total) in Candy bar, chocolate, nougat, with nuts: found in 2 of 3 samples, average 3.63, highest 7.8 ppb (2018-2020)
Arsenic (total) in Candy bar, milk chocolate, plain: found in 2 of 3 samples, average 2.13, highest 3.3 ppb (2018-2020)
Perchlorate in Candy bar, chocolate, nougat, and nuts: found in 15 of 20 samples, average 2.52, highest 9 ppb (2008-2012)
Perchlorate in Candy bar, milk chocolate, plain: found in 19 of 20 samples, average 8.92, highest 15 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)

MILK CHOCOLATE (SUGAR, COCOA BUTTER, CHOCOLATE LIQUOR, MILK POWDER, SOY LECITHIN [EMULSIFIER], VANILLA), PRETZEL ROD (ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR [WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID], SALT, MALT, VEGETABLE OIL CANOLA, CORN AND/OR SOYBEAN], LEAVENING [YEAST, SODIUM BICARBONATE AND/OR AMMONIUM BICARBONATE]), CONFECTIONER'S COATING SUGAR, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED PALM KERNEL OIL, WHEY, NONFAT MILK, MONO AND IGLYCERIDE AND SOYA LECITHIN EMULSIFIERS, ARTIFICIAL COLOR [TITANIUM DIOXIDE], NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR.

From USDA FoodData Central, label dated 2021-10-28. Labels change; check the package.

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