Caramel Coloring
PlainFoodSafe flags Caramel Coloring as a controversial additive. CSPI Chemical Cuisine rates it “Avoid.” It appears in 23,161 indexed US food products.
Source-backed answer
Caramel Coloring appears in 23,161 catalogued products. CSPI rates it “Avoid.” Its FDA SAFFA status is “Approved (color additive, GRAS).” Those source labels describe the ingredient; they do not establish whether a particular product, dose, allergy, or diet is safe.
- 23,161
- catalogued products
- #43
- usage rank of 248,027
- 3,748
- named brands represented
- 67%
- 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 Caramel Coloring sits among catalogued ingredients
- Usage rank
- #43
- of 248,027 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 67%
- Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 23,223 products listing it (mean slot 18.5). Caramel Coloring 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 Caramel Coloring vs other flagged additives?
Number of indexed products containing each of the most common flagged additives - Caramel Coloring 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 Caramel Coloring as the trigger. Open records such as 1/2 Marble Grad Cake With Red Borders; 10 mg THC Cannabis Infused Soda, Classic Root Beer; 100% Real Ice Cream and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 84.4/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 67% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.
Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 23155 of 23158 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 Caramel Coloring
Across the 23,161 products on this site that list Caramel Coloring, 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. Carrageenan shows up about 2x more often with Caramel Coloring than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Caramel Coloring products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carrageenan | 2,095 | 9% | 4.5% |
| Red 40 | 1,966 | 8.5% | 5.4% |
| Yellow 5 | 1,266 | 5.5% | 4.8% |
| Yellow 6 | 1,198 | 5.2% | 3.4% |
| Sucralose | 1,085 | 4.7% | 2.7% |
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
Coloring
Safety Concerns
Controversial additive
Safety Profile at a Glance
| Source | Classification | Year |
|---|---|---|
| FDA SAFFA | Approved (color additive, GRAS) | 2024 |
| CSPI Chemical Cuisine | Avoid | 2024 |
| PlainFoodSafe Score | 1/5 | 2026 |
| Product footprint | 23,161 products | OpenFoodFacts |
FDA SAFFA database, CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings, OpenFoodFacts product index. See methodology.
Products Containing Caramel Coloring
A sample of 16 of the 23,161 indexed products containing Caramel Coloring, with each product's overall safety score.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Caramel Coloring safe to eat? ▼
Caramel Coloring has a PlainFoodSafe ingredient-screening score of 1/5. CSPI rates it "Avoid." FDA SAFFA status: Approved (color additive, GRAS). These labels are not a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific safety determination.
What products contain Caramel Coloring? ▼
Caramel Coloring is found in 23,161 products in our database, spanning various food categories and brands.
What does Caramel Coloring do in food? ▼
Caramel Coloring is used as a coloring 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.
