Hostess Frosted Yellow Cake With Creamy Filling Holiday Cupcakes, Frosted Yellow Cake

Hostess Brands, LLC · Cakes, Cupcakes, Snack Cakes · barcode 00888109011567

What stands out

From the label
The ingredients list Red No. 40 (Allura Red), Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Blue No. 1 (Brilliant Blue) and Titanium dioxide, which have stricter rules elsewhere. Strictest: Not allowed in the EU since 2022; West Virginia ban from 2028. Details

Lab testsNo lab has published results for this exact product.
RecallsNo FDA recall lists this barcode.
Additives4 ingredients have stricter rules elsewhere. Strictest: Not allowed in the EU since 2022; West Virginia ban from 2028. Which
TypicalFDA's tests of cakes, cupcakes, snack cakes show what's typical. See levels

Additives with restrictions somewhere

From the ingredient list on file (label data dated 2021-03-19). Recipes change, so check the package you have.

Rules that apply to more than one of these

US (FDA): Allowed Source. Applies to Red No. 40 (Allura Red), Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Blue No. 1 (Brilliant Blue), Titanium dioxide.
EU: Allowed with warning label (Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, Annex V) Source. Applies to Red No. 40 (Allura Red), Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine).
California: Banned in school meals from 2027-12-31 Banned in food and drinks offered in California public schools from December 31, 2027. (AB 2316 (2024)) Source. Applies to Red No. 40 (Allura Red), Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Blue No. 1 (Brilliant Blue).
West Virginia: Banned from 2028-01-01 Food containing it is treated as adulterated in West Virginia from January 1, 2028. (HB 2354 (2025)) Source. Applies to Red No. 40 (Allura Red), Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Blue No. 1 (Brilliant Blue).
West Virginia: Banned in school meals from 2025-08-01 Banned in West Virginia school meals since August 1, 2025. (HB 2354 (2025)) Source. Applies to Red No. 40 (Allura Red), Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Blue No. 1 (Brilliant Blue).
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: Banned in school meals from 2028-2029 school year Banned in Louisiana school food from the 2028-2029 school year (concession stands and vending machines exempt). (SB 14, Act 463 (2025)) Source. Applies to Red No. 40 (Allura Red), Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Blue No. 1 (Brilliant Blue).
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 Red No. 40 (Allura Red), Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Blue No. 1 (Brilliant Blue), Bleached flour.

Red No. 40 (Allura Red) (E129)

Only the shared rules above.

Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine) (E102)

Only the shared rules above.

Blue No. 1 (Brilliant Blue) (E133)

EU: Allowed On the EU's list of approved additives as E133. (Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008) Source

Titanium dioxide (E171)

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

Bleached flour

US (FDA): Allowed FDA allows bleached flour. Source

Typical for cakes, cupcakes, snack cakes

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

Lead: typically 3.9 ppb (FDA, 54 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 (1 cake, 45 g, from the label):
12% of a toddler's daily limit
3% of an adult's daily limit
Cadmium: typically 9.7 ppb (FDA, 54 samples, 2017-2020). A toddler reaches EPA's daily limit at about 1.4 kg (3.1 lb) a day; an adult at about 6.4 kg (14 lb).
One serving (1 cake, 45 g, from the label):
3% of a toddler's daily limit
under 1% of an adult's daily limit
Arsenic (total): typically 1.9 ppb (FDA, 54 samples, 2017-2020). No US agency limit we can cite.
Perchlorate: typically 1.5 ppb (FDA, 40 samples, 2008-2012). A toddler reaches EPA's daily limit at about 4.5 kg (9.9 lb) a day; an adult at about 21 kg (46 lb).
One serving (1 cake, 45 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 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 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 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 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 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)

SUGAR, WATER, ENRICHED FLOUR (BLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE OR REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, SHORTENING (TALLOW, HYDROGENATED TALLOW, COTTONSEED OIL, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, POLYSORBATE 60, SOY LECITHIN), SHORTENING (PALM OIL, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, POLYSORBATE 60), CORN SYRUP, SPRINKLES (SUGAR, CORNSTARCH, PALM OIL, PALM KERNEL OIL, SUNFLOWER LECITHIN, DEXTRIN, CONFECTIONERS GLAZE, RED 40 LAKE, YELLOW 5 LAKE, BLUE 1 LAKE, NATURAL & ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, CARNAUBA WAX), SHORTENING (TALLOW, HYDROGENATED TALLOW), CONTAINS 2% OR LESS: CORNSTARCH, MODIFIED CORNSTARCH, HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL, EGG, WHEY, EGG WHITES, NONFAT DRY MILK, SALT, INULIN, CALCIUM CARBONATE, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, CALCIUM SULFATE, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, BAKING SODA, DEXTROSE, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, DEFATTED SOY FLOUR, CELLULOSE GUM, SORBIC ACID AND POTASSIUM SORBATE (TO RETAIN FRESHNESS), GUAR GUM, GLYCERIN, SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, AGAR, TITANIUM DIOXIDE (COLOR), XANTHAN GUM, CALCIUM CASEINATE, SODIUM CASEINATE, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, PALM OIL, LOCUST BEAN GUM, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE, SOY LECITHIN, ENZYMES, SUNFLOWER OIL, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, COLOR.

From USDA FoodData Central, label dated 2021-03-19. Labels change; check the package.

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