Nigella

Nigella appears in 6 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

Nigella appears in 6 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.

6
catalogued products
#21,732
usage rank of 247,206
3
named brands represented
49%
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.

Nigella sits in the busiest tenth of the catalog (#21,732 / 247,206)

Usage rank
#21,732
of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 2,975 others that also appear in exactly 6 products.
Typical depth in an ingredient list
49%
Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 6 products listing it (mean slot 7.7). Nigella usually falls in the upper 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.

Reading this ingredient record

Use prevalence before concern

Only 16.7% of linked products carry any separately flagged ingredient. The stronger differentiator here is market placement: Nigella spans 3 named brands and is led by the Plant-based foods and beverages group. Start with balanced kitchari; Masala bombay biryani mix; Mixed Pickles when comparing real formulations. Because the flagged component may be something else, neither the low co-occurrence rate nor the 97.5/100 product average proves this ingredient safe.

3 named brands carry this ingredient

The processing evidence is heterogeneous rather than a single shelf pattern: the largest NOVA group contains 4 of 6 classified products, leaving a meaningful remainder elsewhere. This breadth is why the page reports label depth, category, and product examples separately. Those dimensions help locate comparable products; combining them into a stronger safety claim would hide the variation the catalog actually contains.

Next check: compare label position across two brands before treating prevalence as equivalent exposure.

How do the sampled products compare?

Each point is one of the 6 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 Nigella

Per-product safety score and flagged-ingredient count from the same sampled listings shown below. Bubble size = linked ingredient rows. Source: Open Food Facts labels x FDA SAFFA x CSPI Chemical Cuisine. 2×2 strategic matrix plotting 6 entities by Safety score (X) and Flagged ingredients on label (Y), with a crosshair dividing the plot into four quadrants. High score, still flaggedLow score, more flaggedHigh score, fewer flaggedLow score, fewer flagged 80859095100105 00.511.5 Safety score Flagged ingredients on label Safety score vs. flagged-ingredient count for products containing Nigella balanced kitchariMasala bombay biryani mixMixed PicklesNablus cheeseShan biryani mixed masalaShan Recipe*Masala
Per-product safety score and flagged-ingredient count from the same sampled listings shown below. Bubble size = linked ingredient rows. Source: Open Food Facts labels x FDA SAFFA x CSPI Chemical Cuisine.

High-volume peers for Nigella

Top-decile company for Nigella: 6 listings averaging 97.5/100.

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 Nigella page

Start from Nigella's 6 catalogued appearances and the attached source fields, then open the product rows that match your use case.

  • Open the product sample for Nigella and read how the term sits on real packages. Open product sample
  • Move to a second ingredient page and compare registry fields plus catalog mass side by side. Open a peer record
  • See the join rules behind screening scores before reading them as dietary advice. Open methodology

This page describes published source classifications and product-label coverage. It is not dietary, allergy, or medical advice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is there no FDA/CSPI verdict on Nigella?

This snapshot has no FDA SAFFA status or CSPI Chemical Cuisine rating attached to Nigella, so PlainFoodSafe does not present a source-backed safety verdict. The page reports catalog prevalence (#21,732 of 247,206 ingredients) and label position instead.

Which product shelves show up most often with Nigella?

Nigella ranks in the top decile by product count (#21,732 of 247,206), appearing in 6 indexed products led by Plant-based foods and beverages. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.

Why is Nigella so common on ingredient lists?

The source record does not name a technical effect, yet Nigella appears in 6 products (#21,732 usage rank). High prevalence here describes formulation frequency, not an approved use level.

Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Nigella). 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.