Polysorbate 80
PlainFoodSafe flags Polysorbate 80 as a controversial additive. CSPI Chemical Cuisine rates it “Caution.” It appears in 5,341 indexed US food products.
Source-backed answer
Polysorbate 80 appears in 5,341 catalogued products. CSPI rates it “Caution.” Its FDA SAFFA status is “Approved.” Those source labels describe the ingredient; they do not establish whether a particular product, dose, allergy, or diet is safe.
- 5,341
- catalogued products
- #201
- usage rank of 247,206
- 720
- named brands represented
- 77%
- 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.
Polysorbate 80: top-decile catalog footprint (#201 of 247,206)
- Usage rank
- #201
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, listed in more products than 99.9% of them.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 77%
- Averaged label depth puts Polysorbate 80 near the end of the captured list (77% of list length, mean slot 18.5). Compound ingredients and OCR noise mean this cannot stand in for quantity.
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 common is Polysorbate 80 vs other flagged additives?
Number of indexed products containing each of the most common flagged additives - Polysorbate 80 highlighted.
Reading this ingredient record
Audit the co-occurring flags first
100% 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 80 as the trigger. Open records such as 1% LOWFAT COTTAGE CHEESE; 1% Lowfat Cottage Cheese; 1% Lowfat Cultured Buttermilk and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 77.1/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 77% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.
100% of linked products contain a separately flagged ingredient
Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 5341 of 5341 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.
What else is usually in the same product as Polysorbate 80
Across the 5,341 products on this site that list Polysorbate 80, 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 10.4x more often with Polysorbate 80 than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Polysorbate 80 products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carrageenan | 2,493 | 46.7% | 4.5% |
| Yellow 5 | 1,356 | 25.4% | 4.8% |
| Caramel Coloring | 799 | 15% | 5.7% |
| Blue 1 | 632 | 11.8% | 4.2% |
| Red 40 | 508 | 9.5% | 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.
Function
COLOR OR COLORING ADJUNCT, EMULSIFIER OR EMULSIFIER SALT, FLAVOR ENHANCER, FLAVORING AGENT OR ADJUVANT, SOLVENT OR VEHICLE, STABILIZER OR THICKENER, SURFACE-ACTIVE AGENT
Safety Concerns
Controversial additive
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 80
Products Containing Polysorbate 80
16 busy labels from the 5,341 indexed products that list Polysorbate 80:
Polysorbate 80 vs other top-decile catalog footprints
Polysorbate 80 sits among other busy catalog rows (5,341 products, mean score 77.1/100). Catalog-mass neighbours in view: Egg Yolks; Sodium Diacetate; Cellulose. Count peers and score peers are listed separately on purpose.
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.
Using the Polysorbate 80 evidence
5,341 product rows plus any FDA/CSPI fields on Polysorbate 80 are the evidence base — drill into the listings that matter for your decision.
- Open the product sample for Polysorbate 80 and read how the term sits on real packages. Browse linked labels
- Move to a second ingredient page and compare registry fields plus catalog mass side by side. Browse ingredient records
- 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.
Polysorbate 80 — common follow-ups
How should I read safety signals when Polysorbate 80 sits in heavily flagged products? ▼
100% 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 80 is the trigger. Where a source rating exists, Polysorbate 80 scores 2/5 on this site's screening scale and CSPI lists it as "Caution" with FDA SAFFA status "Approved". None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.
Which product shelves show up most often with Polysorbate 80? ▼
Polysorbate 80 ranks in the top decile by product count (#201 of 247,206), appearing in 5,341 indexed products led by Desserts. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
What function does Polysorbate 80 serve when it appears beside other flagged additives? ▼
Polysorbate 80 is recorded as a color or coloring adjunct, emulsifier or emulsifier salt, flavor enhancer, flavoring agent or adjuvant, solvent or vehicle, stabilizer or thickener, surface-active agent in source technical-effect fields. In high co-flag products, that function coexists with other caution-marked components — inspect the full list rather than isolating this role.
Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Polysorbate 80). 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.