Van Leeuwen

Rated at 1/5 green leaves, the Van Leeuwen Hazelnut Fudge Cookie falls short of meeting the criteria for cleaner food options set by our website. This rating reflects the product’s composition of ingredients that we have identified as less desirable for health-conscious consumers.

The product is not organic, which immediately reduces its score according to our standards. Additionally, it fails to use non-GMO ingredients, further impacting its rating negatively. The presence of added sugars is a significant concern, with molasses and brown sugar contributing to its lower score. More concerning, however, is the inclusion of cane sugar and tapioca syrup, which we categorize as more harmful types of added sugars and thus deduct additional points for these ingredients.

Another ingredient that negatively affects the product’s score is enriched wheat flour. While enrichment adds certain vitamins and minerals back into the flour, the process also indicates that the original nutritional value was compromised during refinement, which is not aligned with our guidelines for cleaner food options.

The product includes a range of other ingredients such as cream, milk, egg yolks, hazelnuts, butter, cocoa powder, cocoa liquor, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, non-GMO corn starch, and vanilla extract. These ingredients are less of a concern in terms of our scoring criteria but do not offset the score deductions from the aforementioned ingredients.

Given the product’s low green leaf rating, we advise customers seeking cleaner food options to consider alternative products that align more closely with our standards. The Van Leeuwen Hazelnut Fudge Cookie, with its current ingredient profile, is not recommended by our website for those looking to minimize the intake of added sugars, GMOs, and non-organic ingredients in their diet.