Snacks

Snacks covers shelf-stable savory packaged foods: potato chips, tortilla chips, pretzels, crackers, popcorn, rice cakes, cheese puffs, and snack mixes. Most entries in this category are NOVA 4 ultra-processed foods, though there are meaningful differences in quality between, say, air-popped popcorn and fried-and-flavored chips.

Snacks are not a dietary necessity but they are a cultural staple. The USDA DGA does not recommend specific snack foods but does emphasize limiting added sugar, sodium, and saturated fat — three things snacks often deliver in concentrated form. Programmatic scoring exposes the wide score spread within this category and identifies the few entries that genuinely hold up.

Air-popped popcorn, lightly salted nuts, and rice-based crackers with short ingredient lists can score 60+. Most branded chips, cheese puffs, and flavored crackers sit in the 30-50 range because of oil, salt, and NOVA 4 classification. Anything with artificial flavors, MSG, or hydrogenated oil drops below 35.

Score distribution

1. 01
   ANGIE'S, BOOM CHICKA POP, SEA SALT POPCORN, SEA SALT

   Very good
   85
2. 02
   BARILLA, PASTA, ROTINI

   Very good
   85
3. 03
   BARILLA, WHOLE GRAIN, SPAGHETTI

   Very good
   85
4. 04
   BARILLA, WHOLE WHEAT PASTA

   Very good
   85
5. 05
   BARILLA WHOLE GRAIN ELBOWS PASTA

   Very good
   85
6. 06
   BEECH-NUT ORIGINAL CRISPEAS BAKED PEA PUFFS, ORIGINAL

   Very good
   85
7. 07
   CLIF BERRY ALMOND FRUIT + NUT BAR, BERRY ALMOND

   Very good
   85
8. 08
   Larabar Cherry Pie

   Very good
   85
9. 09
   LARABAR THE ORIGINAL FRUIT & NUT FOOD BAR, BANANA BREAD

   Very good
   85
10. 10
    LARABAR THE ORIGINAL FRUIT & NUT FOOD BAR, CAPPUCCINO

    Very good
    85
11. 11
    NABISCO TRISCUIT CRACKERS HINT OF SALT 1X9 OZ

    Very good
    85
12. 12
    Popcorn (air-popped)

    Very good
    85
13. 13
    SIMPLE TRUTH ORGANIC ROASTED SEAWEED SNACK

    Very good
    85
14. 14
    SIMPLE TRUTH ORGANIC, ROASTED & SALTED SOYNUTS

    Very good
    85
15. 15
    SKINNYPOP SKINNY POP, POPCORN PACK

    Very good
    85
16. 16
    TERRA DOLCE, ORGANIC CHIPOTLE DRIED CHILE PEPPERS

    Very good
    85
17. 17
    365 WHOLE FOODS MARKET UNROASTED & UNSALTED ALMONDS, UNROASTED & UNSALTED

    Very good
    84
18. 18
    ANGIE'S SEA SALT POPCORN, SEA SALT

    Very good
    84
19. 19
    BARILLA, THIN SPAGHETTI

    Very good
    84
20. 20
    BARILLA WHOLE GRAIN LINGUINE

    Very good
    84

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