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Understanding the WISEcode Ingredient Quality Report

Matt Stramel
Updated

Access note: The Ingredient Quality Report is a Studio (Beta) report and requires separate approval. Studio Beta access alone doesn’t unlock it — approval is granted per brand. If you’d like access, submit a request and your account team will review.

The Ingredient Quality Report is a deeper look at your portfolio’s ingredient profile — beyond the binary UPF / Non-UPF classification. This article explains what the report covers, how to read each category, and how to act on what you find.

What the report covers

The Ingredient Quality Report scans every ingredient across your claimed portfolio and groups concerns into nine categories:

  • Artificial Colors — synthetic dyes like Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1
  • Artificial Flavors — generic “natural flavor” claims that don’t disclose source, plus explicit synthetic flavors
  • Artificial Preservatives — BHA, BHT, TBHQ, sodium benzoate, sulfites, and similar
  • Artificial Sweeteners — aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame K, saccharin, and similar
  • Banned / Unsafe — ingredients banned in major markets (e.g., potassium bromate, partially hydrogenated oils) or flagged by WISEcode safety review
  • Clean Label — does the product meet a stricter “clean label” standard (no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, sweeteners, or banned ingredients)
  • Emulsifiers of Concern — polysorbates, carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), carrageenan, and other emulsifiers associated with gut-health concerns in recent research
  • Seed Oils of Concern — refined high-PUFA oils (soybean, corn, canola, sunflower, safflower, cottonseed, rice bran)
  • UPF (Ultra-Processed Food) — full UPF classification with ingredient drivers

How to read each category

Each category in the report shows two things:

  • Portfolio share — what percentage of your claimed products contain at least one ingredient in this category
  • Ingredient detail — which specific ingredients triggered the flag, and how many products each touches

A 30% portfolio share in “Emulsifiers of Concern” means three out of every ten of your products contain at least one flagged emulsifier. The ingredient detail then tells you exactly which emulsifier and how often.

How to use the report

The Ingredient Quality Report is built for portfolio strategy, not just compliance. Three primary use cases:

1. Identify high-leverage cleanups

Sort the ingredient detail by “products touched” — reformulating away from a single ingredient that appears in 20 products is far higher leverage than fixing 20 different ingredients across 20 products.

2. Validate clean-label marketing claims

If your packaging says “no artificial colors” or “clean label,” the Clean Label category confirms it across your portfolio. If anything is flagged, that’s a brand-risk issue worth fixing fast.

3. Prepare for retailer and partner conversations

Buyers at major retailers increasingly ask about emulsifiers, seed oils, and synthetic additives. Having this report ready means you can answer the question with data — and it’s a strong tool in retailer negotiations.

Common questions

I have Studio Beta access but I don’t see Ingredient Quality Reports. Why? The Ingredient Quality Report sits behind a second approval gate on top of Studio Beta access. Being in the Studio Beta doesn’t automatically unlock it. To request access, submit a request and your account team will review.

Is this the same as the Ingredient Quality pillar in my WISEscore? No — they’re related but different. The WISEscore’s Ingredient Quality pillar is one of three pillars that roll into your 0–100 score. This report is a standalone, category-by-category deep dive across nine ingredient categories. The pillar gives you a score; the report gives you the detail behind it.

My product says “natural flavor” — why is that flagged under Artificial Flavors? WISEcode flags “natural flavor” as low-transparency, not as outright artificial. If you can disclose the source (e.g., “natural orange flavor from orange peel”), update the ingredient list via the data ingestion chat and the flag will resolve.

Is “seed oil of concern” the same as banned? No. Seed oils of concern aren’t banned — they’re flagged because emerging research and consumer sentiment have shifted on refined high-PUFA oils. The report tells you who has exposure; what to do about it is a brand strategy decision.

Can the Clean Label category be customized to my brand’s standard? The current Clean Label definition follows WISEcode’s standard. If your brand has a stricter or different definition, you can use the underlying category data to build your own internal scorecard.

Why is the same ingredient flagged in two categories? Some ingredients fit more than one category — e.g., a synthetic preservative that’s also part of UPF classification. The report shows both flags to give you a complete picture.

How do I know which category matters most for my brand? It depends on your positioning. Brands marketing “clean label” should prioritize the Clean Label category. Brands focused on regenerative or whole-food positioning often prioritize Seed Oils of Concern. Brands selling to retailers with banned-ingredient lists should prioritize the Banned / Unsafe category.

Next steps

Need help?

For toolkit access, asset specifications, or shield usage questions, submit a request and a member of the WISEcode team will get back to you.

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