Is Black Forest Gummy Bears healthy?

Black Forest Gummy Bears scores 27/100 on Scout's independent analysis of ingredients, additives, and lab results — one of the lower scores in Scout's catalog. Black Forest Gummy Bears score 27/100.

Does Black Forest Gummy Bears contain seed oils?

No — Scout's ingredient analysis marks Black Forest Gummy Bears as seed-oil free.

Has Black Forest Gummy Bears been lab-tested?

Yes. Black Forest Gummy Bears carries an independent laboratory panel from Independent third-party laboratory testing covering 1 contaminant (including Arsenic) — the full results are on this page.

How processed is Black Forest Gummy Bears?

Black Forest Gummy Bears is NOVA Group 4: Ultra-Processed Foods.

How does Black Forest Gummy Bears compare to other candy?

Black Forest Gummy Bears ranks #23 of 56 candy in Scout's independent rankings. The current top score in the category is SOLELY Organic Mango & Guava Fruit Gummies at 88/100.

Which ingredients drive Black Forest Gummy Bears's score?

In Scout's ingredient-by-ingredient analysis, Black Carrot Juice Concentrate (Color), Turmeric (Color), Annatto (Color) count in its favor; Corn Syrup, Sugar, Natural Flavors are flagged as ingredients of concern. The full breakdown, with why each one matters, is in the Key ingredients section on this page.

Black Forest Gummy Bears

Name: Black Forest Gummy Bears
Brand: Black Forest

Black Forest

Seed oil free Lab tested

Poor

At a glance

Beneficial ingredients 3

Harmful ingredients 3

Owned by Ferrara Candy Company (Ferrero)

Category Candy

Summary

Black Forest Gummy Bears score 27/100. Third-party 2025 testing detected 370 ppb arsenic. Notably this product uses natural colors (black carrot, turmeric, annatto) and real fruit juice concentrate — genuinely cleaner label than most competitors on this list — but the arsenic contamination overrides those advantages. Corn syrup is still the first ingredient. Owned by Ferrara Candy Company. An organic Black Forest variant tested clean and is not scored here.

Contaminants 1

Source: Independent third-party laboratory testing

Arsenic

370 ppb

High

Detected at a high level — at or above health-based exposure limits. Regular exposure at this level is a genuine health concern. No safe level of arsenic exposure exists; chronic exposure is linked to increased cancer risk (lung, skin, kidney, bladder), cardiovascular disease, and neurodevelopmental harm in children.

Independent third-party testing detected arsenic at 370 parts per billion — a significant contamination level.

Key ingredients 14

Corn Syrup

Bad

First ingredient — industrial glucose.

See more about Corn Syrup →

Sugar

Bad

Second sweetener.

See more about Sugar →

Natural Flavors

Bad

Umbrella term that can hide dozens of undisclosed synthetic flavor constituents.

See more about Natural Flavors →

Apple

Neutral