Our rating system
Every snack gets an A-E grade based on added sugar per serving - one scannable signal grounded in label data, not marketing claims.
Per serving
Same unit parents see on the package.
Label-first
Added sugar when reported; conservative fallbacks when not.
One glance
Grade + context on every product page.
Total sugar < 0.5g per serving
Meets the FDA “sugar free” definition. Includes plain water, unseasoned nuts, plain jerky, and similar items.
Examples: Plain seaweed snacks · Unseasoned nut packets · Plain jerky
Technical: Less than 0.5g total sugar per serving (FDA sugar-free definition)
Added sugar = 0g; total sugar ≥ 0.5g
All sweetness comes from fruit, vegetables, or dairy. We flag items with > 8g total sugar as “high natural sugar” so parents see the full picture.
Examples: 100% fruit pouches · Plain yogurt · Freeze-dried fruit
Technical: 0g added sugar per serving - natural sugars from fruit or dairy only
Added sugar 0.5-3g per serving
A reasonable choice for most snack occasions - still well within a thoughtful daily budget.
Examples: Many granola bars · Lightly sweetened crackers · Some cereals
Technical: 0.5-3g added sugar per serving
Added sugar 3-5g per serving
Fine occasionally, but not an everyday snack - especially for toddlers and preschoolers.
Examples: Some flavored yogurts · Fruit snack pouches · Sweetened cereals
Technical: 3-5g added sugar per serving
Added sugar > 5g per serving
We still list these products so you can compare and swap - they often appear on our alternatives pages.
Examples: Gushers · Pop-Tarts · Most cookies
Technical: More than 5g added sugar per serving
Parents read labels per serving. A per-100g number is meaningless when serving sizes vary from 10g to 150g. We parse the label serving size from the product data and compute everything from that.
Many older products don't report added sugar separately. When it's missing, we fall back to total sugar as an upper bound - which is conservative (over-penalizes fruit products). We show "added sugar not recorded" on those product pages and prioritize getting the real number from USDA or the label.
We detect stevia, erythritol, monk fruit, allulose, sucralose, aspartame, and acesulfame-K from ingredients text. These products can be Tier A or B (no added sugar) but still taste sweet. We show the sweetener flag so parents can decide.
Tier B means zero added sugar - but a plain fruit pouch or 100% juice product naturally contains lots of fruit sugar. We flag these as "high natural sugar" (> 8g total) so the full picture is visible.
Ready to shop by tier?
Browse snacks rated A through E in our catalog.