Lecithin
Lecithin carries a source-backed screening score of 5/5 and appears in 2,910 indexed US food products. CSPI rates it “Safe.”
Source-backed answer
Lecithin appears in 2,910 catalogued products. CSPI rates it “Safe.” 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.
- 2,910
- catalogued products
- #313
- usage rank of 247,206
- 776
- named brands represented
- 60%
- 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 Lecithin - usage rank #313
- Usage rank
- #313
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, listed in more products than 99.9% of them.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 60%
- Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 2,911 products listing it (mean slot 15.4). Lecithin usually falls in the lower half of the 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.
How to use this page
Separate this ingredient from its product neighborhood
This is a mixed product neighborhood: 1129 of 2910 records have some flagged component, while the rest do not. Compare 100% Gold Standard Whey Double Rich Chocolate; 100% Whey Native Whey Protein Blend; 100% Whey Native Whey Protein Blend to see how surrounding formulations change; do not assign their 0–100 score range to Lecithin itself. The ingredient most often sits in the lower half of the list, and Snacks supplies the most useful like-for-like starting point for a label review.
1129 of 2,910 linked records have some flagged component
All 2910 NOVA-classified records cluster most heavily in Group 4, while the first-category labels split across several shelves. That makes the 0–100 score spread more informative than the average alone: investigate the low end, identify the actual flagged row, and compare it with a similar unflagged formulation before drawing a conclusion.
Next check: pair one flagged product with a similar unflagged product from the same shelf category.
What else is usually in the same product as Lecithin
Across the 2,910 products on this site that list Lecithin, 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 2.3x more often with Lecithin than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Lecithin products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red 40 | 359 | 12.3% | 5.4% |
| Blue 1 | 324 | 11.1% | 4.2% |
| Yellow 5 | 301 | 10.3% | 4.8% |
| Yellow 6 | 214 | 7.4% | 3.4% |
| Sucralose | 207 | 7.1% | 2.7% |
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
ANTICAKING AGENT OR FREE-FLOW AGENT, ANTIOXIDANT, DRYING AGENT, EMULSIFIER OR EMULSIFIER SALT, HUMECTANT, LUBRICANT OR RELEASE AGENT, MASTICATORY SUBSTANCE, NUTRIENT SUPPLEMENT, SURFACE-ACTIVE AGENT, TEXTURIZER
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 Lecithin
Products Containing Lecithin
A sample of 16 high-volume listings among the 2,910 indexed products containing Lecithin:
Lecithin vs other top-decile catalog footprints
Top-decile company for Lecithin: 2,910 listings averaging 83.7/100. Comparable product-count neighbours: BHA · Safflower Oil · Mustard.
Similar product count
Nearest other ingredients by Open Food Facts product count (floored at ≥50).
Similar mean product score
Score-axis peers only, mean screening score among ingredients with ≥50 scored products, not a second count list.
What to do with this Lecithin record
Start from Lecithin's 2,910 catalogued appearances and the attached source fields, then open the product rows that match your use case.
- Review the sampled product records that list Lecithin to see how the ingredient appears in actual labels. Open product sample
- Compare Lecithin with a peer such as “BHA” on source-backed rating, FDA status, and product footprint. Compare a peer
- Check the methodology for how FDA SAFFA, CSPI, and Open Food Facts rows are joined on this site. Read the methodology
This page describes published source classifications and product-label coverage. It is not dietary, allergy, or medical advice.
Lecithin — common follow-ups
Does Lecithin carry its own safety label in this catalog? ▼
This is a mixed neighborhood: some linked products carry a separate flag while others do not. Lecithin itself carries a CSPI "Safe" rating and FDA SAFFA status "GRAS" where the source record supplies them. Compare like-for-like products before treating the average screening score as an ingredient verdict.
Which product shelves show up most often with Lecithin? ▼
Lecithin ranks in the top decile by product count (#313 of 247,206), appearing in 2,910 indexed products led by Snacks. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
What does Lecithin do in food? ▼
Lecithin is recorded as a anticaking agent or free-flow agent, antioxidant, drying agent, emulsifier or emulsifier salt, humectant, lubricant or release agent, masticatory substance, nutrient supplement, surface-active agent, texturizer in source technical-effect fields.
Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Lecithin). 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.