Red # 40
Red # 40 appears in 95 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
Red # 40 appears in 95 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.
- 95
- catalogued products
- #3,238
- usage rank of 247,206
- 42
- named brands represented
- 82%
- 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.
What this page can and cannot answer
Audit the co-occurring flags first
51.6% of the linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, making co-occurrence the dominant follow-up question. That figure does not identify Red # 40 as the trigger. Open records such as Asher's, Milk Chocolate; Bah humbug; Belgian White Chocolate and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 91.0/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 82% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.
51.6% of linked products contain a separately flagged ingredient
Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 95 of 95 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 Red # 40 - usage rank #3,238
- Usage rank
- #3,238
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 25 others that also appear in exactly 95 products, listed in more products than 98.7% of them.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 82%
- Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 95 products listing it (mean slot 15.7). Red # 40 usually falls near the end of the captured 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.
What else is usually in the same product as Red # 40
Across the 95 products on this site that list Red # 40, 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 9x more often with Red # 40 than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Red # 40 products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Titanium Dioxide | 18 | 18.9% | 2.1% |
| Caramel Coloring | 9 | 9.5% | 5.7% |
| Carrageenan | 8 | 8.4% | 4.5% |
| Sucralose | 7 | 7.4% | 2.7% |
| Blue 1 | 5 | 5.3% | 4.2% |
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 Red # 40
Products Containing Red # 40
16 busy labels from the 95 indexed products that list Red # 40:
Red # 40 vs other top-decile catalog footprints
Red # 40 sits among other busy catalog rows (95 products, mean score 91/100). Catalog-mass neighbours in view: Apples And Calcium Ascorbate; Barbecue Sauce; Black Bean. 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.
What to do with this Red # 40 record
95 product rows plus any FDA/CSPI fields on Red # 40 are the evidence base — drill into the listings that matter for your decision.
- Review the sampled product records that list Red # 40 to see how the ingredient appears in actual labels. Open product sample
- Compare Red # 40 with a peer such as “Apples And Calcium Ascorbate” on source-backed rating, FDA status, and product footprint. 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 Red # 40
How should I read safety signals when Red # 40 sits in heavily flagged products? ▼
51.6% of linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, so the first task is locating which row carries the caution marker — not assuming Red # 40 is the trigger. None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.
Which product shelves show up most often with Red # 40? ▼
Red # 40 ranks in the top decile by product count (#3,238 of 247,206), appearing in 95 indexed products led by Snacks. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
Why is Red # 40 so common on ingredient lists? ▼
The source record does not name a technical effect, yet Red # 40 appears in 95 products (#3,238 usage rank). High prevalence here describes formulation frequency, not an approved use level.
Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Red # 40). 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.