u/Dogs-World

For a long time I had this question: are there products hiding in a normal grocery store (HEB, Walmart) that would pass the same standards as a store like Whole Foods or Sprouts?

I picked 6 filters. No artificial colors, no artificial sweeteners, no ingredients flagged by CSPI, no erythritol or sugar alcohols, nothing that would get pulled from a Whole Foods shelf, and a 10g added sugar cap per serving of a candy.

Then I ran the analysis on every candy product at the local HEB. All 1,000+ of them. This was an intensive Python-script heavy exercise.

11 passed!

The one that genuinely surprised me: Feastables MrBeast Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate. The candy bar kids beg for, at least mine do. Passed everything.

The rest of the list — Hu "organic grass-fed" type bars, Justin's Mini PB Cups, Raisinets, Life Savers Pep O Mint, YumEarth Lollipops, Hill Country Fare Peanut Butter Bars, Central Market Truffles.

The takeaway for me personally — you don't have to shop at Whole Foods to eat clean. Some of what you need is already at your regular grocery store. But it takes some work to find the hidden gems.

I did cereals too if anyone's curious. That list has its own surprises.

I've been screening every product in specific categories at my local HEB grocery store (HEB is a big deal in TX) in Austin. My goal: looking for products that would pass muster at a premium health grocery store but hiding in a conventional one like HEB.

6 filters: no artificial colors, no artificial sweeteners, no CSPI-flagged ingredients, no erythritol or sugar alcohols, no ingredients that would get flagged at Whole Foods, max 10g added sugar per serving.

1000+ candy products screened. 11 passed.

The surprise: Feastables MrBeast Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate. The candy bar your kids see on YouTube. Passes everything which surprised me considering it is a mainstream candy product.

The full list:

Chocolates — Hu Chocolate (Cashew Butter, Simple Milk, Hazelnut), Justin's Mini PB Cups, Justin's Mini Caramel Nougat Bars, Raisinets Milk Chocolate, Central Market Organic Truffles

Sugar Candies — Life Savers Pep O Mint, YumEarth Lollipops, Hill Country Fare Peanut Butter Bars

Many "natural" and "organic" labeled candy failed.

Dark chocolate excluded from this run — that's a separate list.

These products should be in most HEB and other big grocery store locations, not just mine.

Through this analysis I thought I'd share this finding which is - some mainstream products in mainstream grocery locations can be reasonably clean.

Let me know if you are interested in other categories. I did cereals as well.