Meal
Meal appears in 7 indexed US food products. No FDA SAFFA status or CSPI rating is attached in this snapshot, so this page reports prevalence rather than a safety verdict.
What the data can answer
Meal appears in 7 catalogued products, but this snapshot has no FDA SAFFA status or CSPI Chemical Cuisine rating attached to it. This page therefore cannot answer whether the ingredient is safe from those sources. It can show how often it occurs, where it tends to sit on labels, and which kinds of products contain it.
- 7
- catalogued products
- #19,546
- usage rank of 247,206
- 4
- named brands represented
- 28%
- 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.
Meal sits in the busiest tenth of the catalog (#19,546 / 247,206)
- Usage rank
- #19,546
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 2,185 others that also appear in exactly 7 products.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 28%
- Mean relative depth 28% across 7 parsed labels, slot 8.4 on average. Meal tends to sit in the upper half of the list. Depth is location on the label, not a measured dose.
Computed from parsed product ingredient lists (Open Food Facts). The ranking covers 247,206 ingredients that appear at least once. Neither usage rank nor label depth is a safety clearance.
How to use this page
A clean co-occurrence count is not a safety clearance
No linked product currently contains a separately flagged ingredient, but zero co-occurrence is an absence-of-evidence result, not regulatory approval. The practical reading is about use: Meal reaches 4 named brands, most often appears under Snacks, and typically sits in the upper half of the list. Product examples include Corn Mini Loaf; EVERYTHING BAGELS; Potato Pancakes. Check the current label and authoritative source databases when the decision involves allergies, dosage, pregnancy, or a medical condition.
0% of linked products currently carry a separately flagged ingredient
Most NOVA-tagged examples land in Group 4 (4 of 7), yet the products span unrelated categories. That contrast matters: processing class can describe how a food was made while saying nothing decisive about this ingredient's regulatory status. Use the linked examples to understand formulation context, and leave the unanswered toxicology or individual-sensitivity question unanswered.
Next check: verify the unresolved source rating directly instead of converting zero co-flags into reassurance.
How do the sampled products compare?
Each point is one of the 7 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 Meal
Products Containing Meal
A sample of 7 high-volume listings among the 7 indexed products containing Meal:
High-volume peers for Meal
Meal sits among other busy catalog rows (7 products, mean score 100/100). Count peers and score peers are listed separately on purpose.
Similar mean product score
Mean product-score neighbours (≥50 scored products), kept separate from the product-count peers above.
Next steps from the Meal page
Start from Meal's 7 catalogued appearances and the attached source fields, then open the product rows that match your use case.
- Check the listed products containing Meal before treating the aggregate count as a personal conclusion. See listed products
- Browse another ingredient record and keep the same FDA/CSPI and prevalence fields in view. 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.
Meal — common follow-ups
Why is there no FDA/CSPI verdict on Meal? ▼
This snapshot has no FDA SAFFA status or CSPI Chemical Cuisine rating attached to Meal, so PlainFoodSafe does not present a source-backed safety verdict. The page reports catalog prevalence (#19,546 of 247,206 ingredients) and label position instead.
Which product shelves show up most often with Meal? ▼
Meal ranks in the top decile by product count (#19,546 of 247,206), appearing in 7 indexed products led by Snacks. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
Why is Meal so common on ingredient lists? ▼
The source record does not name a technical effect, yet Meal appears in 7 products (#19,546 usage rank). High prevalence here describes formulation frequency, not an approved use level.
Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Meal). 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.