Polyethylene Glycol

Polyethylene Glycol appears in 152 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

Polyethylene Glycol appears in 152 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.

152
catalogued products
#2,346
usage rank of 247,206
31
named brands represented
66%
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

64.5% of the linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, making co-occurrence the dominant follow-up question. That figure does not identify Polyethylene Glycol as the trigger. Open records such as 0016500579793; 600 Calcium Supplement; Allegra and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 86.6/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 66% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.

64.5% of linked products contain a separately flagged ingredient

Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 149 of 149 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.

Polyethylene Glycol sits in the busiest tenth of the catalog (#2,346 / 247,206)

Usage rank
#2,346
of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 6 others that also appear in exactly 152 products, listed in more products than 99.1% of them.
Typical depth in an ingredient list
66%
Averaged label depth puts Polyethylene Glycol in the lower half of the list (66% of list length, mean slot 12.3). 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 Polyethylene Glycol

Across the 152 products on this site that list Polyethylene Glycol, 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. Titanium Dioxide shows up about 18.8x more often with Polyethylene Glycol than in the catalogue at large.

Titanium Dioxide: +37.4ppTitanium Dioxide+37.4ppPolysorbate 80: +12.5ppPolysorbate 80+12.5ppSucralose: +7.2ppSucralose+7.2ppAcesulfame Potassium: +6.1ppAcesulfame Potassium+6.1ppRed 40: -0.8ppRed 40-0.8pp
Percentage-point gap vs the catalogue baseline rate for each additive, Polyethylene Glycol products only. Source: Open Food Facts ingredient lists.
Chart values as text

Unit: percentage points above/below baseline. Data current as of September 2026.

Titanium Dioxide
37.4pp
Polysorbate 80
12.5pp
Sucralose
7.2pp
Acesulfame Potassium
6.1pp
Red 40
-0.8pp
Additive Shared products Share of Polyethylene Glycol products Share of all products
Titanium Dioxide 60 39.5% 2.1%
Polysorbate 80 21 13.8% 1.3%
Sucralose 15 9.9% 2.7%
Acesulfame Potassium 12 7.9% 1.8%
Red 40 7 4.6% 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 Polyethylene Glycol

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 16 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 406080100120 01234 Safety score Flagged ingredients on label Safety score vs. flagged-ingredient count for products containing Polyethylene Glycol
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.

Peer ingredients with comparable catalog mass (near “Natural Acids”)

Top-decile company for Polyethylene Glycol: 152 listings averaging 86.6/100. Catalog-mass neighbours in view: Natural Acids; Artichoke; Cooked Enriched Pasta.

Similar product count

Nearest other ingredients by Open Food Facts product count (floored at ≥50).

Similar mean product score

Score-axis peers only, mean screening score among ingredients with ≥50 scored products, not a second count list.

Next steps from the Polyethylene Glycol page

Start from Polyethylene Glycol's 152 catalogued appearances and the attached source fields, then open the product rows that match your use case.

  • Review the sampled product records that list Polyethylene Glycol to see how the ingredient appears in actual labels. Browse linked labels
  • Compare Polyethylene Glycol with a peer such as “Natural Acids” on 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. See source joins

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

Polyethylene Glycol — common follow-ups

How should I read safety signals when Polyethylene Glycol sits in heavily flagged products?

64.5% of linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, so the first task is locating which row carries the caution marker — not assuming Polyethylene Glycol is the trigger. None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.

Which product shelves show up most often with Polyethylene Glycol?

Polyethylene Glycol ranks in the top decile by product count (#2,346 of 247,206), appearing in 152 indexed products led by Dietary supplements. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.

Why is Polyethylene Glycol so common on ingredient lists?

The source record does not name a technical effect, yet Polyethylene Glycol appears in 152 products (#2,346 usage rank). High prevalence here describes formulation frequency, not an approved use level.

Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Polyethylene Glycol). 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.