Colorings

Colorings appears in 32 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

Colorings appears in 32 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.

32
catalogued products
#6,747
usage rank of 247,206
16
named brands represented
65%
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.

What this page can and cannot answer

Audit the co-occurring flags first

56.3% of the linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, making co-occurrence the dominant follow-up question. That figure does not identify Colorings as the trigger. Open records such as Ascorbic Acid 100% Pure Vitamin C; Banana Caramel Soufle; Clover Chips and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 73.6/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 65% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.

56.3% 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.

Colorings 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
65%
Mean relative depth 65% across 32 parsed labels, slot 12.2 on average. Colorings tends to sit in the lower half of the list. Depth is location on the label, not a measured dose.

Computed from parsed product ingredient lists (Open Food Facts). The ranking covers 247,206 ingredients that appear at least once. Neither usage rank nor label depth is a safety clearance.

What else is usually in the same product as Colorings

Across the 32 products on this site that list Colorings, 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. Red 40 shows up about 5.8x more often with Colorings than in the catalogue at large.

Red 40: +25.9ppRed 40+25.9ppYellow 5: +26.5ppYellow 5+26.5ppBlue 1: +20.8ppBlue 1+20.8pp
Percentage-point gap vs the catalogue baseline rate for each additive, Colorings products only. Source: Open Food Facts ingredient lists.
Chart values as text

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

Red 40
25.9pp
Yellow 5
26.5pp
Blue 1
20.8pp
Additive Shared products Share of Colorings products Share of all products
Red 40 10 31.3% 5.4%
Yellow 5 10 31.3% 4.8%
Blue 1 8 25% 4.2%

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 Colorings

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 20406080100120 01234 Safety score Flagged ingredients on label Safety score vs. flagged-ingredient count for products containing Colorings
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.

Peer ingredients with comparable catalog mass

Top-decile company for Colorings: 32 listings averaging 73.6/100.

Similar mean product score

Mean product-score neighbours (≥50 scored products), kept separate from the product-count peers above.

What to do with this Colorings record

32 product rows plus any FDA/CSPI fields on Colorings are the evidence base — drill into the listings that matter for your decision.

  • Review the sampled product records that list Colorings to see how the ingredient appears in actual labels. Open product sample
  • Compare another ingredient’s source-backed rating, FDA status, and product footprint. 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.

Colorings — common follow-ups

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

56.3% of linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, so the first task is locating which row carries the caution marker — not assuming Colorings is the trigger. None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.

Which product shelves show up most often with Colorings?

Colorings 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.

Why is Colorings so common on ingredient lists?

The source record does not name a technical effect, yet Colorings appears in 32 products (#6,747 usage rank). High prevalence here describes formulation frequency, not an approved use level.

Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Colorings). 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.