Aspartame
PlainFoodSafe flags Aspartame as a controversial additive. CSPI Chemical Cuisine rates it “Avoid.” It appears in 3,611 indexed US food products.
Source-backed answer
Aspartame appears in 3,611 catalogued products. CSPI rates it “Avoid.” Its FDA SAFFA status is “Approved.” Those source labels describe the ingredient; they do not establish whether a particular product, dose, allergy, or diet is safe.
- 3,611
- catalogued products
- #269
- usage rank of 248,027
- 502
- named brands represented
- 51%
- 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.
1/5 from FDA SAFFA + CSPI Chemical Cuisine
Where Aspartame sits among catalogued ingredients
- Usage rank
- #269
- of 248,027 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, listed in more products than 99.9% of them.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 51%
- Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 3,611 products listing it (mean slot 7.2). Aspartame usually falls in the lower half of the list; this position does not measure its amount because source formatting, compound ingredients and labeling exceptions vary.
Derived by this site from the ingredient lists of every catalogued product (Open Food Facts), recomputed on each data refresh. 248,027 ingredients have at least one appearance and are ranked here. Usage and list position describe prevalence, not safety.
How common is Aspartame vs other flagged additives?
Number of indexed products containing each of the most common flagged additives - Aspartame highlighted.
How to use this page
Audit the co-occurring flags first
100% of the linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, making co-occurrence the dominant follow-up question. That figure does not identify Aspartame as the trigger. Open records such as 12 Fl Oz; 3 Hour Mint, Peppermint; 3 in 1 Milk Tea Powder and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 51.2/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 51% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.
Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 3611 of 3611 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.
What else is usually in the same product as Aspartame
Across the 3,611 products on this site that list Aspartame, 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. Acesulfame Potassium shows up about 37.6x more often with Aspartame than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Aspartame products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acesulfame Potassium | 2,442 | 67.6% | 1.8% |
| Red 40 | 908 | 25.1% | 5.4% |
| Caramel Coloring | 765 | 21.2% | 5.7% |
| Blue 1 | 729 | 20.2% | 4.2% |
| Yellow 5 | 560 | 15.5% | 4.8% |
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, 2026-08-02.
Function
FLAVOR ENHANCER, NON-NUTRITIVE SWEETENER
Safety Concerns
Controversial additive
Safety Profile at a Glance
| Source | Classification | Year |
|---|---|---|
| FDA SAFFA | Approved | 2024 |
| CSPI Chemical Cuisine | Avoid | 2024 |
| PlainFoodSafe Score | 1/5 | 2026 |
| Product footprint | 3,611 products | OpenFoodFacts |
FDA SAFFA database, CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings, OpenFoodFacts product index. See methodology.
Products Containing Aspartame
A sample of 16 of the 3,611 indexed products containing Aspartame, with each product's overall safety score.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Aspartame safe to eat? ▼
Aspartame has a PlainFoodSafe ingredient-screening score of 1/5. CSPI rates it "Avoid." FDA SAFFA status: Approved. These labels are not a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific safety determination.
What products contain Aspartame? ▼
Aspartame is found in 3,611 products in our database, spanning various food categories and brands.
What does Aspartame do in food? ▼
Aspartame is used as a flavor enhancer, non-nutritive sweetener in food products.
Citation notes
Regulatory status from FDA SAFFA; safety ratings from CSPI Chemical Cuisine; product presence from Open Food Facts. See our methodology. Retrieved and formatted by PlainFoodSafe.Every figure on PlainFoodSafe is rendered directly from OpenFoodFacts and FDA data, no number is typed in by an editor. Ingredient figures are computed directly from OpenFoodFacts, FDA SAFFA, and CSPI Chemical Cuisine data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.
