Newman's Own Organics Marinara Pasta Sauce: Labelgrade B- (72/100)

The short answer

Newman’s Own Organics Marinara Pasta Sauce delivers 2g of protein and 80 calories per 0.5 cup (USDA FDC 2076930). Per 100g that’s 1.6g of protein; per oz, 0.5g. The Labelgrade is B- (72 / 100): Very low saturated fat and effectively zero sugar.

Why this Labelgrade

How it compares

Certified organic, and the lowest sodium of the group

Newman’s Own Organics Marinara is what it says: every agricultural ingredient on the label is certified organic — organic tomatoes, organic extra-virgin olive oil, organic carrot puree, organic basil, garlic, onion, black pepper, and fennel. There’s no added sugar, no thickener, no preservative, nothing you wouldn’t recognize. It’s a genuinely clean label that also gives the sauce a slightly rounder, vegetable-forward flavor, thanks largely to the carrot puree that the other jars in this group skip. (Carrot is a quiet old-school trick for taking the acidic edge off tomato sauce without reaching for the sugar jar.)

The detail that actually separates Newman’s on our scale is sodium: 380mg per 1/2 cup, the lowest of the major jarred marinaras we grade — below Classico’s 410mg and Rao’s 430mg. In a category where salt is the universal watch-item, starting 30-50mg lower per serving is a real, if modest, edge, and it’s the main reason Newman’s ties for the top score in this set. One honest footnote: the sugar reads 6g, a gram or two above the leanest jars, but it’s all naturally occurring (tomatoes plus the carrot), with no added sugar in the USDA listing — so it still earns an A on the sugar dimension. You pay a premium for the organic sourcing here; whether that’s worth it is a values call, because nutritionally organic tomatoes grade about the same as conventional ones.

Why a B-, not higher: sodium is still the ceiling

So if Newman’s carries the lowest sodium in the group and a fully organic label, why does it land at 72 rather than in the A range? The same two limits that cap every jarred sauce. The structural one is unavoidable: marinara is a vegetable sauce, so 2g of protein and roughly 2g of fiber per serving can’t compete with a protein food, full stop. The other is sodium — and this is the instructive part — because even at the group’s lowest 380mg per serving, sodium still only scores a C+. That tells you how salty the whole category runs: being the best in class on sodium isn’t the same as being low in sodium. Scale it to the cup of sauce most people actually use and you’re past 750mg, so even with Newman’s head start, sodium is the number to keep an eye on. The clean organic label is real and worth something; it just doesn’t change the one ceiling every jar in this aisle shares.

Scope

This page covers Newman’s Own Organics Marinara Pasta Sauce (23.5 oz/666 g), UPC 020662003904, as represented in USDA Branded Foods FDC 2076930. Newman’s Own sells multiple variants in this product line — other sizes, flavors, or fat levels may have different macros and Labelgrade scores. Manufacturers periodically reformulate; always cross-reference the actual package label, especially if you have allergies or dietary restrictions.

Ingredients (from the USDA Branded Foods entry)

ORGANIC TOMATO PUREE (WATER ORGANIC TOMATO PASTE, CITRIC ACID), ORGANIC DICED TOMATOES, ORGANIC EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL, ORGANIC CARROT PUREE, ORGANIC BASIL, SEA SALT, ORGANIC GARLIC, ORGANIC ONION*, ORGANIC BLACK PEPPER, ORGANIC FENNEL.

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Scope: This page applies specifically to Organics Marinara Pasta Sauce (23.5 oz/666 g) · UPC 020662003904. Other sizes, flavors, or formulations may differ.