Apo-carotenal
Apo-carotenal appears in 141 indexed US food products. No FDA SAFFA status or CSPI rating is attached in this snapshot, so this page reports prevalence rather than a safety verdict.
What the data can answer
Apo-carotenal appears in 141 catalogued products, but this snapshot has no FDA SAFFA status or CSPI Chemical Cuisine rating attached to it. This page therefore cannot answer whether the ingredient is safe from those sources. It can show how often it occurs, where it tends to sit on labels, and which kinds of products contain it.
- 141
- catalogued products
- #2,456
- usage rank of 247,206
- 50
- named brands represented
- 72%
- average depth down ingredient lists
Catalog prevalence comes from Open Food Facts ingredient lists. FDA SAFFA and CSPI Chemical Cuisine labels are shown only when the source record contains them.
How to use this page
Audit the co-occurring flags first
61% of the linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, making co-occurrence the dominant follow-up question. That figure does not identify Apo-carotenal as the trigger. Open records such as Bacon, Cheddar & Jalapeño; Bacon, Cheddar and Jalapeño Smoked Sausage; Biscuit sandwiches, sausage, egg & cheese and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 88.2/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 72% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.
61% of linked products contain a separately flagged ingredient
Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 137 of 140 NOVA-tagged records. That describes the surrounding products, not the substance. For a useful comparison, hold category and processing level constant, then inspect which named component changes alongside the caution flag; otherwise the product mix will confound the ingredient question.
Next check: open the lowest-scoring linked formulation and locate the exact caution-marked component.
Apo-carotenal sits in the busiest tenth of the catalog (#2,456 / 247,206)
- Usage rank
- #2,456
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 11 others that also appear in exactly 141 products, listed in more products than 99% of them.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 72%
- Averaged label depth puts Apo-carotenal in the lower half of the list (72% of list length, mean slot 29.8). Compound ingredients and OCR noise mean this cannot stand in for quantity.
Ranks use Open Food Facts ingredient rows on this site’s refresh cycle. 247,206 ingredients with ≥1 product appearance enter the ranking. Prevalence and list depth are catalog facts, not toxicology.
What else is usually in the same product as Apo-carotenal
Across the 141 products on this site that list Apo-carotenal, these flagged additives appear alongside it most often. The comparison column is how often each one appears across every product with a parsed ingredient list, so the two figures are measured over the same set. Sodium Nitrite shows up about 14.5x more often with Apo-carotenal than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Apo-carotenal products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sodium Nitrite | 49 | 34.8% | 2.4% |
| Caramel Coloring | 25 | 17.7% | 5.7% |
| Propyl Gallate | 15 | 10.6% | 0.2% |
| BHA | 15 | 10.6% | 0.7% |
| Carrageenan | 13 | 9.2% | 4.5% |
Co-occurrence describes what manufacturers formulate together. It is not a claim that these additives interact, and it carries no regulatory meaning. Counted over products with parsed ingredient lists; Open Food Facts, 2026-09-01.
How do the sampled products compare?
Each point is one of the 16 sampled products listed below: its overall safety score against how many separately flagged ingredients its label carries. Bubble size is the number of ingredient rows the label actually resolved to.
Safety score vs. flagged-ingredient count for products containing Apo-carotenal
Products Containing Apo-carotenal
16 busy labels from the 141 indexed products that list Apo-carotenal:
High-volume peers for Apo-carotenal beside “Ascorbic Acid And Citric Acid”
High-volume peers for Apo-carotenal: 141 products, mean screening score 88.2/100. Comparable product-count neighbours: Ascorbic Acid And Citric Acid · Crushed Red Peppers · Grape Skin Extract. Axes below stay distinct so count-neighbors do not duplicate score-neighbors.
Similar product count
Nearest other ingredients by Open Food Facts product count (floored at ≥50).
Similar mean product score
Score-axis peers only, mean screening score among ingredients with ≥50 scored products, not a second count list.
Using the Apo-carotenal evidence
Use the 141-product footprint and source labels as a starting point, then inspect the records most relevant to your question.
- Open the product sample for Apo-carotenal and read how the term sits on real packages. Open product sample
- Compare Apo-carotenal with a peer such as “Ascorbic Acid And Citric Acid” on source-backed rating, FDA status, and product footprint. Compare a peer
- Check the methodology for how FDA SAFFA, CSPI, and Open Food Facts rows are joined on this site. Read the methodology
This page describes published source classifications and product-label coverage. It is not dietary, allergy, or medical advice.
Apo-carotenal — common follow-ups
How should I read safety signals when Apo-carotenal sits in heavily flagged products? ▼
61% of linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, so the first task is locating which row carries the caution marker — not assuming Apo-carotenal is the trigger. None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.
Which product shelves show up most often with Apo-carotenal? ▼
Apo-carotenal ranks in the top decile by product count (#2,456 of 247,206), appearing in 141 indexed products led by Meats and their products. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
Why is Apo-carotenal so common on ingredient lists? ▼
The source record does not name a technical effect, yet Apo-carotenal appears in 141 products (#2,456 usage rank). High prevalence here describes formulation frequency, not an approved use level.
Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Apo-carotenal). Safety ratings: CSPI Chemical Cuisine; product presence: Open Food Facts via PlainFoodSafe (September 2026). Figures are computed from those sources, no editor-typed counts. Methodology · State regulations.