High-fructose corn syrup
High-fructose corn syrup carries a source-backed screening score of 4/5 and appears in 24,937 indexed US food products. CSPI rates it “Cut Back.”
Source-backed answer
High-fructose corn syrup appears in 24,937 catalogued products. CSPI rates it “Cut Back.” No FDA SAFFA status is attached. Those source labels describe the ingredient; they do not establish whether a particular product, dose, allergy, or diet is safe.
- 24,937
- catalogued products
- #38
- usage rank of 247,206
- 2,704
- named brands represented
- 31%
- 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-fructose corn syrup sits in the busiest tenth of the catalog (#38 / 247,206)
- Usage rank
- #38
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 31%
- Mean relative depth 31% across 24,938 parsed labels, slot 9.0 on average. High-fructose corn syrup tends to sit in the upper half of the list. Depth is location on the label, not a measured dose.
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.
Reading this ingredient record
Audit the co-occurring flags first
56.5% of the linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, making co-occurrence the dominant follow-up question. That figure does not identify High-fructose corn syrup as the trigger. Open records such as 1 Liter Pepsi; 1% Low Fat Chocolate Milk; 1% Low Fat Chocolate Milk and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 83.6/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 31% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.
56.5% of linked products contain a separately flagged ingredient
Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 24933 of 24935 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 High-fructose corn syrup
Across the 24,937 products on this site that list High-fructose corn syrup, 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 4x more often with High-fructose corn syrup than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of High-fructose corn syrup products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caramel Coloring | 5,724 | 23% | 5.7% |
| Red 40 | 4,037 | 16.2% | 5.4% |
| Carrageenan | 3,027 | 12.1% | 4.5% |
| Yellow 5 | 2,797 | 11.2% | 4.8% |
| Blue 1 | 2,445 | 9.8% | 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.
Function
Sweetener
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 High-fructose corn syrup
Products Containing High-fructose corn syrup
16 busy labels from the 24,937 indexed products that list High-fructose corn syrup:
High-volume peers for High-fructose corn syrup beside “Garlic Powder”
High-fructose corn syrup sits among other busy catalog rows (24,937 products, mean score 83.6/100). Comparable product-count neighbours: Garlic Powder · Preservative · Color. 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
Nearest other ingredients by mean product screening score (floored at ≥50 scored products), distinct from the count row.
Next steps from the High-fructose corn syrup page
Start from High-fructose corn syrup's 24,937 catalogued appearances and the attached source fields, then open the product rows that match your use case.
- Review the sampled product records that list High-fructose corn syrup to see how the ingredient appears in actual labels. Open product sample
- Place High-fructose corn syrup next to “Preservative” (or another peer) using the same FDA/CSPI and prevalence fields. Compare a peer
- 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 High-fructose corn syrup sits in heavily flagged products? ▼
56.5% of linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, so the first task is locating which row carries the caution marker — not assuming High-fructose corn syrup is the trigger. Where a source rating exists, High-fructose corn syrup scores 4/5 on this site's screening scale and CSPI lists it as "Cut Back". None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.
Which product shelves show up most often with High-fructose corn syrup? ▼
High-fructose corn syrup ranks in the top decile by product count (#38 of 247,206), appearing in 24,937 indexed products led by Snacks. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
What function does High-fructose corn syrup serve when it appears beside other flagged additives? ▼
High-fructose corn syrup is recorded as a sweetener 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 (High-fructose corn syrup). 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.