Chlorine

Chlorine carries a source-backed screening score of 3/5 and appears in 32 indexed US food products.

Source-backed answer

Chlorine appears in 32 catalogued products. CSPI has no rating attached in this snapshot. Its FDA SAFFA status is “GRAS.” Those source labels describe the ingredient; they do not establish whether a particular product, dose, allergy, or diet is safe.

32
catalogued products
#6,747
usage rank of 247,206
10
named brands represented
23%
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.

Chlorine sits in the busiest tenth of the catalog (#6,747 / 247,206)

Usage rank
#6,747
of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 148 others that also appear in exactly 32 products.
Typical depth in an ingredient list
23%
Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 32 products listing it (mean slot 11.4). Chlorine 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 to use this page

Audit the co-occurring flags first

50% of the linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, making co-occurrence the dominant follow-up question. That figure does not identify Chlorine as the trigger. Open records such as 9" Pie Crusts Regular Dish; Bon Appe, Nutella, Gourmet Fudge Brownie; Cakes and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 83.0/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 23% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.

50% of linked products contain a separately flagged ingredient

Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 32 of 32 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 Chlorine

Across the 32 products on this site that list Chlorine, 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. Polysorbate 60 shows up about 37.9x more often with Chlorine than in the catalogue at large.

Polysorbate 60: +51.7ppPolysorbate 60+51.7ppYellow 5: +17.1ppYellow 5+17.1ppRed 40: +13.4ppRed 40+13.4ppCaramel Coloring: +13.1ppCaramel Coloring+13.1ppYellow 6: +12.2ppYellow 6+12.2pp
Percentage-point gap vs the catalogue baseline rate for each additive, Chlorine products only. Source: Open Food Facts ingredient lists.
Chart values as text

Unit: percentage points above/below baseline. Data current as of September 2026.

Polysorbate 60
51.7pp
Yellow 5
17.1pp
Red 40
13.4pp
Caramel Coloring
13.1pp
Yellow 6
12.2pp
Additive Shared products Share of Chlorine products Share of all products
Polysorbate 60 17 53.1% 1.4%
Yellow 5 7 21.9% 4.8%
Red 40 6 18.8% 5.4%
Caramel Coloring 6 18.8% 5.7%
Yellow 6 5 15.6% 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, 2026-09-01.

Function

ANTIMICROBIAL AGENT, FUMIGANT, OXIDIZING OR REDUCING AGENT, PH CONTROL AGENT

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 Chlorine

Per-product safety score and flagged-ingredient count from the same sampled listings shown below. Bubble size = linked ingredient rows. Source: Open Food Facts labels x FDA SAFFA x CSPI Chemical Cuisine. 2×2 strategic matrix plotting 16 entities by Safety score (X) and Flagged ingredients on label (Y), with a crosshair dividing the plot into four quadrants. High score, still flaggedLow score, more flaggedHigh score, fewer flaggedLow score, fewer flagged 020406080100120 012345 Safety score Flagged ingredients on label Safety score vs. flagged-ingredient count for products containing Chlorine
Per-product safety score and flagged-ingredient count from the same sampled listings shown below. Bubble size = linked ingredient rows. Source: Open Food Facts labels x FDA SAFFA x CSPI Chemical Cuisine.

Chlorine vs other top-decile catalog footprints

Top-decile company for Chlorine: 32 listings averaging 83/100.

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 Chlorine record

Start from Chlorine's 32 catalogued appearances and the attached source fields, then open the product rows that match your use case.

This page describes published source classifications and product-label coverage. It is not dietary, allergy, or medical advice.

Questions readers ask about Chlorine

How should I read safety signals when Chlorine sits in heavily flagged products?

50% of linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, so the first task is locating which row carries the caution marker — not assuming Chlorine is the trigger. Where a source rating exists, Chlorine scores 3/5 on this site's screening scale with FDA SAFFA status "GRAS". None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.

Which product shelves show up most often with Chlorine?

Chlorine ranks in the top decile by product count (#6,747 of 247,206), appearing in 32 indexed products led by Snacks. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.

What function does Chlorine serve when it appears beside other flagged additives?

Chlorine is recorded as a antimicrobial agent, fumigant, oxidizing or reducing agent, ph control agent 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 (Chlorine). 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.