Sodium Ascorbate
Sodium Ascorbate carries a source-backed screening score of 3/5 and appears in 4,835 indexed US food products.
Source-backed answer
Sodium Ascorbate appears in 4,835 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.
- 4,835
- catalogued products
- #216
- usage rank of 249,389
- 718
- 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.
3/5 from FDA SAFFA + CSPI Chemical Cuisine
Where Sodium Ascorbate sits among catalogued ingredients
- Usage rank
- #216
- of 249,389 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 4,835 products listing it (mean slot 22.5). Sodium Ascorbate 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.
Derived by this site from the ingredient lists of every catalogued product (Open Food Facts), recomputed on each data refresh. 249,389 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
67.9% of the linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, making co-occurrence the dominant follow-up question. That figure does not identify Sodium Ascorbate as the trigger. Open records such as 1 slice hard salami 2 slices mild cheddar cheese; 1/2 Cheese Pizza & 1/2 Pepperoni Pizza; 100% Bacon Bits and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 78.0/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 60% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.
Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 4295 of 4783 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.
Function
ANTIOXIDANT, COLOR OR COLORING ADJUNCT, DOUGH STRENGTHENER, FLOUR TREATING AGENT, LEAVENING AGENT, NUTRIENT SUPPLEMENT, OXIDIZING OR REDUCING AGENT, PROCESSING AID, SURFACE-FINISHING AGENT
Safety Profile at a Glance
| Source | Classification | Year |
|---|---|---|
| FDA SAFFA | GRAS | 2024 |
| CSPI Chemical Cuisine | Not rated | 2024 |
| PlainFoodSafe Score | 3/5 | 2026 |
| Product footprint | 4,835 products | OpenFoodFacts |
FDA SAFFA database, CSPI Chemical Cuisine ratings, OpenFoodFacts product index. See methodology.
Products Containing Sodium Ascorbate
A sample of 16 of the 4,835 indexed products containing Sodium Ascorbate, with each product's overall safety score.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Sodium Ascorbate safe to eat? ▼
Sodium Ascorbate has a PlainFoodSafe ingredient-screening score of 3/5. FDA SAFFA status: GRAS. These labels are not a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific safety determination.
What products contain Sodium Ascorbate? ▼
Sodium Ascorbate is found in 4,835 products in our database, spanning various food categories and brands.
What does Sodium Ascorbate do in food? ▼
Sodium Ascorbate is used as a antioxidant, color or coloring adjunct, dough strengthener, flour treating agent, leavening agent, nutrient supplement, oxidizing or reducing agent, processing aid, surface-finishing agent in food products.
Citation notes
Regulatory status from FDA SAFFA; safety ratings from CSPI Chemical Cuisine; product presence from Open Food Facts. See our methodology. Retrieved and formatted by PlainFoodSafe.Every figure on PlainFoodSafe is rendered directly from OpenFoodFacts and FDA data, no number is typed in by an editor. Ingredient figures are computed directly from OpenFoodFacts, FDA SAFFA, and CSPI Chemical Cuisine data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of July 2026.
