Maltol
Maltol carries a source-backed screening score of 3/5 and appears in 46 indexed US food products.
Source-backed answer
Maltol appears in 46 catalogued products. CSPI has no rating attached in this snapshot. Its FDA SAFFA status is “Approved.” Those source labels describe the ingredient; they do not establish whether a particular product, dose, allergy, or diet is safe.
- 46
- catalogued products
- #5,260
- usage rank of 247,206
- 20
- named brands represented
- 84%
- 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.
Maltol sits in the busiest tenth of the catalog (#5,260 / 247,206)
- Usage rank
- #5,260
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 72 others that also appear in exactly 46 products.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 84%
- Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 46 products listing it (mean slot 22.9). Maltol 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 to use this page
Audit the co-occurring flags first
69.6% of the linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, making co-occurrence the dominant follow-up question. That figure does not identify Maltol as the trigger. Open records such as 3in1 Kids Soap; All white chicken salad; Bread & butter sandwich slice pickles and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 80.9/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 84% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.
69.6% of linked products contain a separately flagged ingredient
Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 46 of 46 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 Maltol
Across the 46 products on this site that list Maltol, 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. Yellow 5 shows up about 10.4x more often with Maltol than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Maltol products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow 5 | 23 | 50% | 4.8% |
| Polysorbate 80 | 15 | 32.6% | 1.3% |
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
FLAVORING AGENT OR ADJUVANT, NUTRITIVE SWEETENER, PROCESSING AID
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 Maltol
Products Containing Maltol
High-volume slice (16 of 46) for products naming Maltol:
High-volume peers for Maltol
Top-decile company for Maltol: 46 listings averaging 80.9/100.
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 Maltol page
46 product rows plus any FDA/CSPI fields on Maltol are the evidence base — drill into the listings that matter for your decision.
- Open the product sample for Maltol and read how the term sits on real packages. Browse linked labels
- Compare another ingredient’s source-backed rating, FDA status, and product footprint. Browse ingredient records
- Check the methodology for how FDA SAFFA, CSPI, and Open Food Facts rows are joined on this site. Open methodology
This page describes published source classifications and product-label coverage. It is not dietary, allergy, or medical advice.
Maltol — common follow-ups
How should I read safety signals when Maltol sits in heavily flagged products? ▼
69.6% of linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, so the first task is locating which row carries the caution marker — not assuming Maltol is the trigger. Where a source rating exists, Maltol scores 3/5 on this site's screening scale with FDA SAFFA status "Approved". None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.
Which product shelves show up most often with Maltol? ▼
Maltol ranks in the top decile by product count (#5,260 of 247,206), appearing in 46 indexed products led by Salted-snacks. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
What function does Maltol serve when it appears beside other flagged additives? ▼
Maltol is recorded as a flavoring agent or adjuvant, nutritive sweetener, processing aid 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 (Maltol). 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.