Green 3
PlainFoodSafe flags Green 3 as a synthetic dye. CSPI Chemical Cuisine rates it “Caution.” It appears in 135 indexed US food products. A California (schools) restriction takes effect2027-12-31.
Source-backed answer
Green 3 appears in 135 catalogued products. CSPI rates it “Caution.” Its FDA SAFFA status is “Approved (certified color).” Those source labels describe the ingredient; they do not establish whether a particular product, dose, allergy, or diet is safe.
- 135
- catalogued products
- #2,527
- usage rank of 247,206
- 45
- named brands represented
- 78%
- 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.
High-volume listing for Green 3 - usage rank #2,527
- Usage rank
- #2,527
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 19 others that also appear in exactly 135 products, listed in more products than 99% of them.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 78%
- Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 135 products listing it (mean slot 25.4). Green 3 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.
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 common is Green 3 vs other flagged additives?
Number of indexed products containing each of the most common flagged additives - Green 3 highlighted.
Reading this ingredient record
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 Green 3 as the trigger. Open records such as Assorted Flavors Happy Drinks, Assorted; Blasts Drinks; Blue Raspberry Cotton Candy, Blue Raspberry and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 19.9/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 78% 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 135 of 135 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 Green 3
Across the 135 products on this site that list Green 3, 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 13.7x more often with Green 3 than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Green 3 products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red 40 | 100 | 74.1% | 5.4% |
| Blue 1 | 94 | 69.6% | 4.2% |
| Yellow 5 | 77 | 57% | 4.8% |
| Yellow 6 | 57 | 42.2% | 3.4% |
| Red 3 | 47 | 34.8% | 1.1% |
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.
Safety Concerns
Synthetic dye
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 Green 3
Products Containing Green 3
A sample of 16 high-volume listings among the 135 indexed products containing Green 3:
Peer ingredients with comparable catalog mass (near “Added To Stabilize Color”)
Green 3 sits among other busy catalog rows (135 products, mean score 19.9/100). Comparable product-count neighbours: Added To Stabilize Color · As A Processing Aid · Organic Baby Lettuces. Count peers and score peers are listed separately on purpose.
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 Green 3 record
Start from Green 3's 135 catalogued appearances and the attached source fields, then open the product rows that match your use case.
- Review the sampled product records that list Green 3 to see how the ingredient appears in actual labels. Open product sample
- Move to a second ingredient page and compare registry fields plus catalog mass side by side. Browse ingredient records
- Read how PlainFoodSafe joins source records before treating a screening label as a personal food or health conclusion. See source joins
This page describes published source classifications and product-label coverage. It is not dietary, allergy, or medical advice.
Green 3 — common follow-ups
How should I read safety signals when Green 3 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 Green 3 is the trigger. Where a source rating exists, Green 3 scores 1/5 on this site's screening scale and CSPI lists it as "Caution" with FDA SAFFA status "Approved (certified color)". None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.
Which product shelves show up most often with Green 3? ▼
Green 3 ranks in the top decile by product count (#2,527 of 247,206), appearing in 135 indexed products led by Snacks. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
Why is Green 3 so common on ingredient lists? ▼
The source record does not name a technical effect, yet Green 3 appears in 135 products (#2,527 usage rank). High prevalence here describes formulation frequency, not an approved use level.
Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Green 3). 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.