Zingers Sea Salt Caramel Frosted Cake With A Salted Caramel Topping & Creamy Filling, Sea Salt Caramel

Hostess Brands, LLC · Cakes, Cupcakes, Snack Cakes · barcode 00888109111137

What stands out

From the label
The ingredients list Partially hydrogenated oils, Titanium dioxide, Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine) and Yellow No. 6 (Sunset Yellow), 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.
Additives4 ingredients have stricter rules elsewhere. Strictest: No longer allowed by FDA; not approved in the EU. 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

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, Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Yellow No. 6 (Sunset Yellow), Bleached flour.
US (FDA): Allowed Source. Applies to Titanium dioxide, Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Yellow No. 6 (Sunset Yellow).
EU: Allowed with warning label (Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, Annex V) Source. Applies to Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Yellow No. 6 (Sunset Yellow).
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 Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Yellow No. 6 (Sunset Yellow).
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 Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Yellow No. 6 (Sunset Yellow).
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 Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Yellow No. 6 (Sunset Yellow).
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 Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Yellow No. 6 (Sunset Yellow).

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)

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

Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine) (E102)

Only the shared rules above.

Yellow No. 6 (Sunset Yellow) (E110)

Only the shared rules above.

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, 47 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, 47 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, 47 g, from the label):
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)

CARAMEL TOPPING (SUGAR, WATER, SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK (MILK, SUGAR), EVAPORATED MILK, CORN SYRUP, PALM KERNAL OIL, INVERT SUGAR, NONFAT DRY MILK, CREAM, CULTURED NONFAT DRY MILK, NATURAL FLAVOR, DISTILLED MONOGLYCERIDE, SALT, SODIUM ALGINATE, SOY LECITHIN, CITRIC ACID), COATING [SUGAR, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED OILS (PALM KERNEL, COCONUT AND PALM), COCOA POWDER (PROCESSED WITH ALKALI), DISTILLED MONOGLYCERIDES, SOY LECITHIN, WHEY POWDER, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR], WATER, SUGAR, BLEACHED ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR [WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE (IRON), THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID], ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE SHORTENING (BEEF TALLOW, HYDROGENATED BEEF TALLOW, COTTONSEED OIL), CORN SYRUP, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING: MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, POLYSORBATE 60, SOY LECITHIN, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, SOYBEAN OIL, WHOLE EGGS, BAKING POWDER, SALT, EGG WHITES, NONFAT DRY MILK, FLOUR, SOY FLOUR, MODIFIED WHEY, CALCIUM SODIUM CASEINATE, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, GUAR GUM, CELLULOSE GUM, SORBIC ACID (TO RETAIN FRESHNESS), CALCIUM CARBONATE, CALCIUM SULFATE, AGAR, DEXTROSE, DISODIUM PHOSPHATE, LOCUST BEAN GUM, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE, FUMARIC ACID, CORN STARCH, CELLULOSE GUM, CONFECTIONERS GLAZE, WHEAT FLOUR, ENZYMES, TITANIUM DIOXIDE, CARNAUBA WAX, YELLOW 5, YELLOW 6.

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

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