Astaxanthin
Astaxanthin carries a source-backed screening score of 3/5 and appears in 37 indexed US food products.
Source-backed answer
Astaxanthin appears in 37 catalogued products. CSPI has no rating attached in this snapshot. Its FDA SAFFA status is “Color Additive.” Those source labels describe the ingredient; they do not establish whether a particular product, dose, allergy, or diet is safe.
- 37
- catalogued products
- #6,133
- usage rank of 248,027
- 28
- named brands represented
- 47%
- 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.
3/5 from FDA SAFFA + CSPI Chemical Cuisine
Where Astaxanthin sits among catalogued ingredients
- Usage rank
- #6,133
- of 248,027 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 98 others that also appear in exactly 37 products.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 47%
- Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 37 products listing it (mean slot 16.5). Astaxanthin usually falls in the upper 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 to use this page
Separate this ingredient from its product neighborhood
This is a mixed product neighborhood: 9 of 37 records have some flagged component, while the rest do not. Compare Astaxanthin; Astaxanthin; Carotenall Mixed Carotenoid Complex Non-gmo to see how surrounding formulations change; do not assign their 35–100 score range to Astaxanthin itself. The ingredient most often sits in the upper half of the list, and Seafood supplies the most useful like-for-like starting point for a label review.
All 37 NOVA-classified records cluster most heavily in Group 4, while the first-category labels split across several shelves. That makes the 35–100 score spread more informative than the average alone: investigate the low end, identify the actual flagged row, and compare it with a similar unflagged formulation before drawing a conclusion.
Next check: pair one flagged product with a similar unflagged product from the same shelf category.
Function
COLOR OR COLORING ADJUNCT
Safety Profile at a Glance
| Source | Classification | Year |
|---|---|---|
| FDA SAFFA | Color Additive | 2024 |
| CSPI Chemical Cuisine | Not rated | 2024 |
| PlainFoodSafe Score | 3/5 | 2026 |
| Product footprint | 37 products | OpenFoodFacts |
FDA SAFFA database, CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings, OpenFoodFacts product index. See methodology.
Products Containing Astaxanthin
A sample of 16 of the 37 indexed products containing Astaxanthin, with each product's overall safety score.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Astaxanthin safe to eat? ▼
Astaxanthin has a PlainFoodSafe ingredient-screening score of 3/5. FDA SAFFA status: Color Additive. These labels are not a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific safety determination.
What products contain Astaxanthin? ▼
Astaxanthin is found in 37 products in our database, spanning various food categories and brands.
What does Astaxanthin do in food? ▼
Astaxanthin is used as a color or coloring adjunct 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.
