Carotenal
Carotenal appears in 92 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
Carotenal appears in 92 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.
- 92
- catalogued products
- #3,310
- usage rank of 247,206
- 25
- named brands represented
- 85%
- 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.
Reading this ingredient record
Audit the co-occurring flags first
82.6% of the linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, making co-occurrence the dominant follow-up question. That figure does not identify Carotenal as the trigger. Open records such as Beef Ravioli; Beef Ravioli; Beef ravioli and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 95.2/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 85% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.
82.6% of linked products contain a separately flagged ingredient
Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 92 of 92 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.
High-volume listing for Carotenal - usage rank #3,310
- Usage rank
- #3,310
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 41 others that also appear in exactly 92 products, listed in more products than 98.7% of them.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 85%
- Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 92 products listing it (mean slot 34.1). Carotenal usually falls near the end of the captured list; this position does not measure its amount because source formatting, compound ingredients and labeling exceptions vary.
Ranks use Open Food Facts ingredient rows on this site’s refresh cycle. 247,206 ingredients with ≥1 product appearance enter the ranking. Prevalence and list depth are catalog facts, not toxicology.
What else is usually in the same product as Carotenal
Across the 92 products on this site that list Carotenal, 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 12.6x more often with Carotenal than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Carotenal products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caramel Coloring | 66 | 71.7% | 5.7% |
| Sodium Nitrite | 5 | 5.4% | 2.4% |
| Carrageenan | 5 | 5.4% | 4.5% |
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, 2026-09-01.
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 Carotenal
Products Containing Carotenal
High-volume slice (16 of 92) for products naming Carotenal:
Peer ingredients with comparable catalog mass (near “100% Whole Grain Wheat Flour”)
Top-decile company for Carotenal: 92 listings averaging 95.2/100. Nearest count peers include “100% Whole Grain Wheat Flour”, “Added To Maintain Color”, “With Alkali”.
Similar product count
Nearest other ingredients by Open Food Facts product count (floored at ≥50).
Similar mean product score
Mean product-score neighbours (≥50 scored products), kept separate from the product-count peers above.
What to do with this Carotenal record
92 product rows plus any FDA/CSPI fields on Carotenal are the evidence base — drill into the listings that matter for your decision.
- Open the product sample for Carotenal and read how the term sits on real packages. Open product sample
- Place Carotenal next to “Added To Maintain Color” (or another peer) using the same FDA/CSPI and prevalence fields. Browse ingredient records
- Check the methodology for how FDA SAFFA, CSPI, and Open Food Facts rows are joined on this site. 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 Carotenal
How should I read safety signals when Carotenal sits in heavily flagged products? ▼
82.6% of linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, so the first task is locating which row carries the caution marker — not assuming Carotenal is the trigger. None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.
Which product shelves show up most often with Carotenal? ▼
Carotenal ranks in the top decile by product count (#3,310 of 247,206), appearing in 92 indexed products led by Plant-based foods and beverages. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
Why is Carotenal so common on ingredient lists? ▼
The source record does not name a technical effect, yet Carotenal appears in 92 products (#3,310 usage rank). High prevalence here describes formulation frequency, not an approved use level.
Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Carotenal). 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.