Canthaxanthin
Canthaxanthin carries a source-backed screening score of 3/5 and appears in 24 indexed US food products.
Source-backed answer
Canthaxanthin appears in 24 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.
- 24
- catalogued products
- #8,251
- usage rank of 247,206
- 12
- named brands represented
- 66%
- 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.
Canthaxanthin: top-decile catalog footprint (#8,251 of 247,206)
- Usage rank
- #8,251
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 260 others that also appear in exactly 24 products.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 66%
- Mean relative depth 66% across 24 parsed labels, slot 24.3 on average. Canthaxanthin tends to sit in the lower half of the list. Depth is location on the label, not a measured dose.
Derived by this site from the ingredient lists of every catalogued product (Open Food Facts), recomputed on each data refresh. 247,206 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
79.2% of the linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, making co-occurrence the dominant follow-up question. That figure does not identify Canthaxanthin as the trigger. Open records such as Cajun Seafood Salad; California Roll; Chunk style imitation lobster meat and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 85.6/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 66% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.
79.2% of linked products contain a separately flagged ingredient
Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 24 of 24 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.
Function
COLOR OR COLORING ADJUNCT
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 Canthaxanthin
Products Containing Canthaxanthin
16 busy labels from the 24 indexed products that list Canthaxanthin:
Canthaxanthin vs other top-decile catalog footprints
Canthaxanthin sits among other busy catalog rows (24 products, mean score 85.6/100). Count peers and score peers are listed separately on purpose.
Similar mean product score
Score-axis peers only, mean screening score among ingredients with ≥50 scored products, not a second count list.
Next steps from the Canthaxanthin page
Use the 24-product footprint and source labels as a starting point, then inspect the records most relevant to your question.
- Review the sampled product records that list Canthaxanthin to see how the ingredient appears in actual labels. Browse linked labels
- Browse another ingredient record and keep the same FDA/CSPI and prevalence fields in view. Open a peer record
- See the join rules behind screening scores before reading them as dietary advice. See source joins
This page describes published source classifications and product-label coverage. It is not dietary, allergy, or medical advice.
Questions readers ask about Canthaxanthin
How should I read safety signals when Canthaxanthin sits in heavily flagged products? ▼
79.2% of linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, so the first task is locating which row carries the caution marker — not assuming Canthaxanthin is the trigger. Where a source rating exists, Canthaxanthin scores 3/5 on this site's screening scale with FDA SAFFA status "Color Additive". None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.
Which product shelves show up most often with Canthaxanthin? ▼
Canthaxanthin ranks in the top decile by product count (#8,251 of 247,206), appearing in 24 indexed products led by Meals. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
What function does Canthaxanthin serve when it appears beside other flagged additives? ▼
Canthaxanthin is recorded as a color or coloring adjunct in source technical-effect fields. In high co-flag products, that function coexists with other caution-marked components — inspect the full list rather than isolating this role.
Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Canthaxanthin). 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.