Hostess Caramel Iced Yellow Cake With Salted Topping & Creamy Caramel Filling Cupcakes, Salted Caramel

Hostess Brands, LLC · Cakes, Cupcakes, Snack Cakes · barcode 00888109111144

What stands out

From the label
The ingredients list Titanium dioxide, Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Red No. 40 (Allura Red) and Blue No. 1 (Brilliant Blue), 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 Titanium dioxide, Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Red No. 40 (Allura Red), 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.
EU: Allowed with warning label (Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, Annex V) Source. Applies to Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Red No. 40 (Allura Red).
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), Red No. 40 (Allura Red), 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 Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Red No. 40 (Allura Red), 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 Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Red No. 40 (Allura Red), Blue No. 1 (Brilliant Blue).
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), Red No. 40 (Allura Red), 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 Yellow No. 5 (tartrazine), Red No. 40 (Allura Red), Blue No. 1 (Brilliant Blue), Bleached flour.

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.

Red No. 40 (Allura Red) (E129)

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

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, BLEACHED ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR (FLOUR, NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE OR REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, 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, PALM OIL, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS: MODIFIED CORNSTARCH, SOYBEAN OIL, CORNSTARCH, EGG, EVAPORATED MILK, SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK, SALT, NONFAT DRY MILK, EGG WHITES, PALM KERNEL OIL, WHEY, CALCIUM CARBONATE, INVERT SYRUP, INULIN, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, CALCIUM SULFATE, SHORTENING (TALLOW, HYDROGENATED TALLOW), BAKING SODA, GLYCERIN, DEXTROSE, DEFATTED SOY FLOUR, SORBIC ACID AND POTASSIUM SORBATE (TO RETAIN FRESHNESS), CELLULOSE GUM, GUAR GUM, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, NATURAL FLAVOR, SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, TITANIUM DIOXIDE (COLOR), AGAR, HEAVY WHIPPING CREAM, CULTURED NONFAT MILK POWDER, MONOGLYCERIDES, SODIUM ALGINATE, CALCIUM CASEINATE, SODIUM CASEINATE, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, XANTHAN GUM, CONFECTIONERS GLAZE, SOY LECITHIN, CITRIC ACID, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE, LOCUST BEAN GUM, ENZYMES, YELLOW 5, RED 40, BLUE 1, SUNFLOWER OIL, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, CARNAUBA WAX, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR.

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

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