Carboximethylcellulose
Carboximethylcellulose appears in 4 indexed US food products. No FDA SAFFA status or CSPI rating is attached in this snapshot, so this page reports prevalence rather than a safety verdict.
What the data can answer
Carboximethylcellulose appears in 4 catalogued products, but this snapshot has no FDA SAFFA status or CSPI Chemical Cuisine rating attached to it. This page therefore cannot answer whether the ingredient is safe from those sources. It can show how often it occurs, where it tends to sit on labels, and which kinds of products contain it.
- 4
- catalogued products
- #28,812
- usage rank of 247,206
- 2
- named brands represented
- 20%
- 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.
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 Carboximethylcellulose as the trigger. Open records such as Drink Mix; Drink mix; Zuko, Drink Mix With Vitamin C, Grape and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 40.0/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 20% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.
100% of linked products contain a separately flagged ingredient
Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 4 of 4 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.
Carboximethylcellulose: above-median product count (beats 88.3% of ranked ingredients)
- Usage rank
- #28,812
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 6,278 others that also appear in exactly 4 products.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 20%
- Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 4 products listing it (mean slot 4.8). Carboximethylcellulose usually falls near the top of the captured 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. 247,206 ingredients have at least one appearance and are ranked here. Usage and list position describe prevalence, not safety.
How do the sampled products compare?
Each point is one of the 4 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 Carboximethylcellulose
Products Containing Carboximethylcellulose
All 4 indexed products that name Carboximethylcellulose:
Nationwide peers near this flagged-ingredient footprint
Flag-heavy neighborhood — keep count peers and score peers on separate axes for Carboximethylcellulose (4 products).
Similar mean product score
Nearest other ingredients by mean product screening score (floored at ≥50 scored products), distinct from the count row.
What to do with this Carboximethylcellulose record
4 product rows plus any FDA/CSPI fields on Carboximethylcellulose are the evidence base — drill into the listings that matter for your decision.
- Review the sampled product records that list Carboximethylcellulose to see how the ingredient appears in actual labels. See listed products
- Browse another ingredient record and keep the same FDA/CSPI and prevalence fields in view. Open a peer record
- Read how PlainFoodSafe joins source records before treating a screening label as a personal food or health conclusion. Read the methodology
This page describes published source classifications and product-label coverage. It is not dietary, allergy, or medical advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
How should I read safety signals when Carboximethylcellulose sits in heavily flagged products? ▼
100% of linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, so the first task is locating which row carries the caution marker — not assuming Carboximethylcellulose is the trigger. None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.
Where does Carboximethylcellulose show up across the catalog? ▼
Carboximethylcellulose sits above the median for catalog prevalence (4 products, #28,812 of 247,206) across 2 named brands. Category mix varies — use the linked records rather than treating any single shelf as representative.
Why is Carboximethylcellulose so common on ingredient lists? ▼
The current source record does not specify a technical effect for Carboximethylcellulose. Its near the top of the captured list and product examples are shown without guessing why manufacturers include it.
Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Carboximethylcellulose). 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.