Phenylalanine
Phenylalanine appears in 391 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
Phenylalanine appears in 391 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.
- 391
- catalogued products
- #1,223
- usage rank of 247,206
- 117
- named brands represented
- 98%
- 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.
How to use this page
Audit the co-occurring flags first
94.1% of the linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, making co-occurrence the dominant follow-up question. That figure does not identify Phenylalanine as the trigger. Open records such as 5-hour ENERGY Extra Strength; Apple Cinnamon Pecan Instant Oatmeal; Aspartame Sweetener and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 48.3/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 98% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.
94.1% of linked products contain a separately flagged ingredient
Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 387 of 387 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.
High-volume listing for Phenylalanine - usage rank #1,223
- Usage rank
- #1,223
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 1 other that also appear in exactly 391 products, listed in more products than 99.5% of them.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 98%
- Averaged label depth puts Phenylalanine near the end of the captured list (98% of list length, mean slot 15.3). Compound ingredients and OCR noise mean this cannot stand in for quantity.
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.
What else is usually in the same product as Phenylalanine
Across the 391 products on this site that list Phenylalanine, 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. Aspartame shows up about 92.9x more often with Phenylalanine than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Phenylalanine products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aspartame | 327 | 83.6% | 0.9% |
| Acesulfame Potassium | 254 | 65% | 1.8% |
| BHT | 160 | 40.9% | 1.1% |
| Sucralose | 100 | 25.6% | 2.7% |
| Red 40 | 91 | 23.3% | 5.4% |
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.
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 Phenylalanine
Products Containing Phenylalanine
16 busy labels from the 391 indexed products that list Phenylalanine:
High-volume peers for Phenylalanine beside “Vanilla Bean Extractives”
High-volume peers for Phenylalanine: 391 products, mean screening score 48.3/100. Nearest count peers include “Vanilla Bean Extractives”, “Green Chile Peppers”, “Potassium Hydroxide”. Axes below stay distinct so count-neighbors do not duplicate score-neighbors.
Similar product count
Nearest other ingredients by Open Food Facts product count (floored at ≥50).
Similar mean product score
Nearest other ingredients by mean product screening score (floored at ≥50 scored products), distinct from the count row.
What to do with this Phenylalanine record
Use the 391-product footprint and source labels as a starting point, then inspect the records most relevant to your question.
- Open the product sample for Phenylalanine and read how the term sits on real packages. Browse linked labels
- Place Phenylalanine next to “Green Chile Peppers” (or another peer) using the same FDA/CSPI and prevalence fields. Compare a peer
- 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.
Questions readers ask about Phenylalanine
How should I read safety signals when Phenylalanine sits in heavily flagged products? ▼
94.1% of linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, so the first task is locating which row carries the caution marker — not assuming Phenylalanine is the trigger. None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.
Which product shelves show up most often with Phenylalanine? ▼
Phenylalanine ranks in the top decile by product count (#1,223 of 247,206), appearing in 391 indexed products led by Snacks. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
Why is Phenylalanine so common on ingredient lists? ▼
The source record does not name a technical effect, yet Phenylalanine appears in 391 products (#1,223 usage rank). High prevalence here describes formulation frequency, not an approved use level.
Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Phenylalanine). 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.