Polysorbate
Polysorbate appears in 61 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
Polysorbate appears in 61 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.
- 61
- catalogued products
- #4,349
- usage rank of 247,206
- 39
- named brands represented
- 71%
- 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
60.7% of the linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, making co-occurrence the dominant follow-up question. That figure does not identify Polysorbate as the trigger. Open records such as Antonina's Artisan Bakery, Double Chocolate Cake; Birria Ramen Noodle Soup; Blossom, Coconut Milk and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 83.7/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 71% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.
60.7% of linked products contain a separately flagged ingredient
Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 61 of 61 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.
Polysorbate: top-decile catalog footprint (#4,349 of 247,206)
- Usage rank
- #4,349
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 39 others that also appear in exactly 61 products, listed in more products than 98.2% of them.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 71%
- Mean relative depth 71% across 61 parsed labels, slot 19.5 on average. Polysorbate tends to sit in the lower half of the list. Depth is location on the label, not a measured dose.
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.
What else is usually in the same product as Polysorbate
Across the 61 products on this site that list Polysorbate, 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. Carrageenan shows up about 3.6x more often with Polysorbate than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Polysorbate products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carrageenan | 10 | 16.4% | 4.5% |
| Yellow 5 | 10 | 16.4% | 4.8% |
| Caramel Coloring | 9 | 14.8% | 5.7% |
| Red 40 | 8 | 13.1% | 5.4% |
| Titanium Dioxide | 7 | 11.5% | 2.1% |
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 Polysorbate
Products Containing Polysorbate
High-volume slice (16 of 61) for products naming Polysorbate:
Polysorbate vs other top-decile catalog footprints
High-volume peers for Polysorbate: 61 products, mean screening score 83.7/100. Catalog-mass neighbours in view: Natural And Artificial Flavours; Basil Leaves; Brazils. 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
Mean product-score neighbours (≥50 scored products), kept separate from the product-count peers above.
What to do with this Polysorbate record
Start from Polysorbate's 61 catalogued appearances and the attached source fields, then open the product rows that match your use case.
- Review the sampled product records that list Polysorbate to see how the ingredient appears in actual labels. Browse linked labels
- Move to a second ingredient page and compare registry fields plus catalog mass side by side. Compare a peer
- Read how PlainFoodSafe joins source records before treating a screening label as a personal food or health conclusion. Open methodology
This page describes published source classifications and product-label coverage. It is not dietary, allergy, or medical advice.
Questions readers ask about Polysorbate
How should I read safety signals when Polysorbate sits in heavily flagged products? ▼
60.7% of linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, so the first task is locating which row carries the caution marker — not assuming Polysorbate is the trigger. None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.
Which product shelves show up most often with Polysorbate? ▼
Polysorbate ranks in the top decile by product count (#4,349 of 247,206), appearing in 61 indexed products led by Undefined. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
Why is Polysorbate so common on ingredient lists? ▼
The source record does not name a technical effect, yet Polysorbate appears in 61 products (#4,349 usage rank). High prevalence here describes formulation frequency, not an approved use level.
Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Polysorbate). 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.