Clean Schmear
Every dairy cream cheese I could find at Sprouts, Aldi, Target, Ralphs, Trader Joe's and Walmart, graded on its ingredient list. Gums, starches and preservatives cost points. Rennet and other non-vegetarian ingredients get flagged.
73 products · checked Sep 26, 2026
Best: Nancy's Organic Probiotic Cream Cheese (A, $0.62/oz at Sprouts). Best value: Tillamook Original Cream Cheese Spread ($0.47/oz at Target).
How we pick: best grade that passes "Vegetarian-safe", then easiest to find, then score.
- Not vegetarian
How the grade works
Every product starts at 100. Points come off for each additive type on the label. Carob bean gum and locust bean gum are the same thing, so they count once. Plain milk, cream, salt and cultures cost nothing. Real-food add-ins like chives or strawberries cost nothing either; the sugar that comes with them does. The grade measures how clean the label is, not whether it's vegetarian, so anything with rennet or fish keeps its grade but sorts to the bottom of the list.
Deductions
| Gum thickener (each extra −6) | −15 |
| Carrageenan | −20 |
| Phosphate | −12 |
| Artificial color | −10 |
| Preservative | −9 |
| Modified starch | −8 |
| Corn syrup solids | −6 |
| Added sugar | −5 |
| Whey protein concentrate | −5 |
| Maltodextrin | −4 |
| Natural flavor | −3 |
| Added color | −3 |
| Yeast extract | −3 |
| Added whey | −2 |
| Added acid | −2 |
| Vitamin A palmitate | −2 |
| Certified organic | +4 |
Grade scale
Ingredient colors
About the data
Ingredients come from the brand's own site first, then the store's site, then a third-party listing when neither was readable. Each product shows which. Prices are from online listings on Sep 24–25, 2026 and vary by location. A dashed store tag means the product likely sells there but I couldn't confirm it. Lactose-free and dairy-free products are left out. Every label was re-checked against current brand and store listings on Sep 26, 2026.