Qdoba publishes a November 2025 list of roughly 70 additives it pledges to avoid, including MSG, artificial colors and flavors, carrageenan, polysorbates, TBHQ and titanium dioxide, which is the strongest additive commitment of any chain rated here so far. The weak spot is seed oils: their allergen guide confirms soybean oil is in the kitchen but never says which items it touches, and no ingredient statements are published to check either claim against.
Qdoba is one of the very few chains that publishes an avoid list instead of just a nutrition table. Their "Ingredients We Pledge To Avoid" document, dated November 2025, names around 70 things they say are not in the food, including MSG, artificial colors, artificial flavors, high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oil, TBHQ, BHA, BHT, carrageenan, maltodextrin, polysorbates, titanium dioxide, sodium benzoate, DATEM, sucralose and vanillin. That is a real commitment and it is the reason the additive score here is high. The catch is that they publish no per-item ingredient statements at all, only nutrition and allergen tables, so the pledge is a claim I could not check line by line. Seed oils are the open question. Their own allergen guide lists Soybean Oil as a menu component, so it is definitely in the kitchen, but nothing published says which items it touches and the grill and fryer oil are never named.