17 brand investigations. 5 category indexes. Every score sourced to a primary document — SEC filings, FDA letters, acquisition announcements, lab reports. The brands that earned Red did something documentable. The brands in Green earned that too.
The “homegrown” brand has been General Mills since 2014. $820M acquisition. The bunny stayed. The founder-controlled sourcing independence didn’t.
PGPR replaced cocoa butter in 2006. Compound coatings replaced milk chocolate in line extensions. Hershey’s CFO confirmed recipe changes to investors while the marketing held.
Every single dimension red. The definitive case study in health halo positioning: a product built almost entirely on influencer infrastructure and opacity.
| Brand | Zone | Owner | Category | Key finding | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AG1 Athletic Greens |
Red | Private / VC-backed No public filings |
Greens Powder | 7 of 7 dimensions red. The most complete transparency failure in the Traced database. Influencer infrastructure, proprietary blend, dose opacity, and health halo claims unsupported by the disclosed formula. |
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Annie’s Homegrown |
Yellow | General Mills Acquired 2014 — $820M |
Acquired Natural Food | Formulas have largely held post-acquisition. The structural independence that justified the brand’s premium — founder control, mission alignment, independent sourcing — has not. |
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Beyond Meat BYND |
Red | Public (Nasdaq: BYND) IPO 2019 — post-IPO decline |
Alternative Protein | IPO in 2019 was the most successful food company debut in decades. The promise: sustainable, clean-label protein. The reality: ingredient complexity, proprietary processing, and a marketing-to-formula gap that widened as growth stalled. |
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Cheerios General Mills |
Yellow | General Mills Core portfolio brand |
Breakfast Cereal | The red heart FDA-qualified health claim is legitimate. The “heritage grain” marketing is not substantiated at the supply chain level. Glyphosate residue in EWG testing has not been addressed in product communications. |
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Chobani |
Yellow | Founder-led (Hamdi Ulukaya) Public — Founder control maintained |
Yogurt | One of the most compelling founder stories in American food. Founder control maintained post-IPO. Yellow because of sourcing claim verification gaps and an acquisition-heavy expansion strategy that introduces new ownership complexity. |
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David Protein Bar |
Red | Independent (2024 launch) Founder-controlled |
Protein Bar | Macros are real: 28g protein, 150 calories, 0g sugar. Red because the novel protein blend raises dose adequacy questions that the brand’s marketing does not address and that third-party testing has not yet resolved. |
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Fairlife Ultra-Filtered Milk |
Red | Coca-Cola (100%) Full acquisition 2020 |
Filtered Milk | Built on a “farmer-owned” premium. Fully acquired by Coca-Cola in 2020. Animal welfare violations documented at co-founder’s farms. The sourcing story the premium price depends on is no longer structurally accurate. |
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Halo Top |
Red | Wells Enterprises Acquired 2019 — ~$1B est. |
Diet Ice Cream | Wellness positioning maintained post-acquisition. Erythritol (primary sweetener) associated with elevated cardiovascular risk in 2023 Nature Medicine study. Brand has not updated marketing or labeling in response. |
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Jif Peanut Butter |
Red | J.M. Smucker Core portfolio brand |
Pantry Staple | 2022 Salmonella recall: 166 illnesses, 14 states. Post-recall communications managed the story rather than addressed the systemic failure. Added sugars and hydrogenated oils not disclosed in the “real peanut butter” framing. |
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Momentous |
Green | Independent (VC-backed) Founders in control |
Performance Supplements | NSF Certified for Sport, batch COAs published, no proprietary blends. The green benchmark for the supplement category. Premium price reflects genuine premium sourcing and testing. No transparency gaps found. |
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MusclePharm Deep Trace |
Red | Public (Nasdaq: MSLP) Revenue down 70% |
Supplements — Deep Trace | Most documented legal and regulatory history in the Traced supplement database. SEC investigations, FTC actions, product quality failures. A public company case study in what happens when brand > substance for a decade. |
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Muscle Milk RTD Protein |
Red | PepsiCo / Gatorade Acquired via Hormel 2014 → PepsiCo 2019 |
RTD Protein | FDA warning letter about the name. FTC advertising review. Consumer Reports heavy metals findings (2010). Most documented regulatory history in the category. 2025 reformulation improves but doesn’t close the record. |
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Oatly |
Yellow | Blackstone-backed (major investor) Public — OTLY |
Alternative Dairy | Oat milk is genuinely what it claims. The values transaction Oatly sold — choosing oat milk is an environmental act — became complicated when Blackstone (deforestation ties) took a major position via the IPO. |
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Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard |
Yellow | Glanbia plc Irish conglomerate, acquired 2008 |
Protein Supplements | Category-defining product with genuine quality. Yellow because Glanbia ownership creates supply chain opacity and proprietary blend use has increased since acquisition. No NSF certification despite category-leader positioning. |
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Reese’s The Hershey Company |
Red | The Hershey Company Core portfolio brand |
Confectionery | PGPR replaced cocoa butter in 2006. Compound coatings replaced milk chocolate in line extensions. CFO confirmed changes to investors in 2024 while public communications said “no consumer impact.” |
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RXBar |
Yellow | Mars Inc. Via Kellogg’s 2017, Mars 2023 |
Protein Bar | The “No B.S.” label lists ingredients but not ownership. Kellogg’s $600M acquisition in 2017, then sold to Mars in 2023. Ingredients hold. The transparency the label implies does not extend to ownership disclosure. |
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Salt & Straw |
Green | Founder-owned Kim & Tyler Malek, Portland OR |
Independent Ice Cream | The answer to what transparency looks like in practice. Farm-direct dairy partnerships published by name. Founder-controlled, no PE, no acquisition. Every Halo Top story ends with a Salt & Straw. |
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Transparent Labs |
Green | Independent Founder-controlled |
Performance Supplements | Full ingredient disclosure, no proprietary blends, published COAs, clinical dosing. Green because the product does what the label says. No NSF certification (Yellow flag) but COA transparency partially compensates. |
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Tropicana Pure Premium OJ |
Red | PAI Partners (PE) Divested by PepsiCo 2021 — $3.3B |
Orange Juice | “Pure Premium” orange juice that is reconstituted, flavor-packed, and stored for up to a year before packaging. Divested to PE in 2021 with no consumer communication about the ownership change or its supply chain implications. |
Read → |
Oatmeal Crisp General Mills |
In progress | General Mills |
Breakfast Cereal | Glyphosate residue data. Health claims vs. ingredient reality. General Mills’ third appearance in the archive. |
Soon |
Chobani Complete |
In progress | Chobani Inc. |
Functional Dairy | The “Complete” sub-brand adds novel sweeteners and functional claims to Chobani’s otherwise clean positioning. Dose adequacy and label accuracy questions pending. |
Soon |
Vital Proteins Nestlé Health Science |
In progress | Nestlé Health Science |
Collagen / Supplements | “Clean sourcing” brand, Nestlé majority stake since 2021. Jennifer Aniston partnership. The wellness positioning vs. conglomerate ownership tension in full. |
Soon |
Vital Proteins (Nestlé). Oatmeal Crisp (General Mills). Chobani Complete. The next three investigations are in progress. The people who read this archive are exactly who we’re writing for.