Autolyzed yeast extract
Autolyzed yeast extract carries a source-backed screening score of 3/5 and appears in 4,121 indexed US food products. CSPI rates it “Certain People Should Avoid.”
Source-backed answer
Autolyzed yeast extract appears in 4,121 catalogued products. CSPI rates it “Certain People Should Avoid.” No FDA SAFFA status is attached. Those source labels describe the ingredient; they do not establish whether a particular product, dose, allergy, or diet is safe.
- 4,121
- catalogued products
- #252
- usage rank of 248,027
- 839
- named brands represented
- 63%
- 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 Autolyzed yeast extract sits among catalogued ingredients
- Usage rank
- #252
- 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
- 63%
- Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 4,122 products listing it (mean slot 22.6). Autolyzed yeast extract 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 to use this page
Audit the co-occurring flags first
50.6% of the linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, making co-occurrence the dominant follow-up question. That figure does not identify Autolyzed yeast extract as the trigger. Open records such as 16 Bean Soup Mix; 3 Color 5 Cheese Tortelloni; 365 everyday value, chicken taquitos and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 89.6/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 63% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.
Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 4076 of 4116 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 Autolyzed yeast extract
Across the 4,121 products on this site that list Autolyzed yeast extract, 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. Caramel Coloring shows up about 5.1x more often with Autolyzed yeast extract than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Autolyzed yeast extract products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caramel Coloring | 1,209 | 29.3% | 5.7% |
| Sodium Nitrite | 362 | 8.8% | 2.4% |
| Carrageenan | 317 | 7.7% | 4.5% |
| Yellow 5 | 268 | 6.5% | 4.8% |
| Yellow 6 | 263 | 6.4% | 3.4% |
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
Flavoring
Safety Profile at a Glance
| Source | Classification | Year |
|---|---|---|
| FDA SAFFA | Not listed | 2024 |
| CSPI Chemical Cuisine | Certain People Should Avoid | 2024 |
| PlainFoodSafe Score | 3/5 | 2026 |
| Product footprint | 4,121 products | OpenFoodFacts |
FDA SAFFA database, CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings, OpenFoodFacts product index. See methodology.
Products Containing Autolyzed yeast extract
A sample of 16 of the 4,121 indexed products containing Autolyzed yeast extract, with each product's overall safety score.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Autolyzed yeast extract safe to eat? ▼
Autolyzed yeast extract has a PlainFoodSafe ingredient-screening score of 3/5. CSPI rates it "Certain People Should Avoid." These labels are not a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific safety determination.
What products contain Autolyzed yeast extract? ▼
Autolyzed yeast extract is found in 4,121 products in our database, spanning various food categories and brands.
What does Autolyzed yeast extract do in food? ▼
Autolyzed yeast extract is used as a flavoring 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.
