Red #3
Red #3 appears in 653 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 #3 appears in 653 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.
- 653
- catalogued products
- #877
- usage rank of 247,206
- 204
- named brands represented
- 81%
- 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.
Reading this ingredient record
Audit the co-occurring flags first
58.2% 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 #3 as the trigger. Open records such as 1/4 Sheet White Cake With Colored Icing; 7 select, conversation hearts candy; 7 select, gourmet jelly beans and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 86.4/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 81% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.
58.2% of linked products contain a separately flagged ingredient
Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 653 of 653 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.
Red #3 sits in the busiest tenth of the catalog (#877 / 247,206)
- Usage rank
- #877
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 2 others that also appear in exactly 653 products, listed in more products than 99.6% of them.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 81%
- Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 653 products listing it (mean slot 18.5). Red #3 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.
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.
What else is usually in the same product as Red #3
Across the 653 products on this site that list Red #3, 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 8x more often with Red #3 than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Red #3 products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Titanium Dioxide | 110 | 16.8% | 2.1% |
| Yellow 5 | 87 | 13.3% | 4.8% |
| Caramel Coloring | 72 | 11% | 5.7% |
| Carrageenan | 60 | 9.2% | 4.5% |
| Blue 1 | 51 | 7.8% | 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 #3
Products Containing Red #3
16 busy labels from the 653 indexed products that list Red #3:
Red #3 vs other top-decile catalog footprints
Top-decile company for Red #3: 653 listings averaging 86.4/100. Comparable product-count neighbours: Citrus Fiber · Cracked Wheat · Almond Flour.
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 #3 record
Start from Red #3's 653 catalogued appearances and the attached source fields, then open the product rows that match your use case.
- Review the sampled product records that list Red #3 to see how the ingredient appears in actual labels. Open product sample
- Compare Red #3 with a peer such as “Citrus Fiber” on source-backed rating, FDA status, and product footprint. Compare a peer
- Check the methodology for how FDA SAFFA, CSPI, and Open Food Facts rows are joined on this site. 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 #3
How should I read safety signals when Red #3 sits in heavily flagged products? ▼
58.2% 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 #3 is the trigger. None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.
Which product shelves show up most often with Red #3? ▼
Red #3 ranks in the top decile by product count (#877 of 247,206), appearing in 653 indexed products led by Snacks. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
Why is Red #3 so common on ingredient lists? ▼
The source record does not name a technical effect, yet Red #3 appears in 653 products (#877 usage rank). High prevalence here describes formulation frequency, not an approved use level.
Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Red #3). 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.