Red Color 40
Red Color 40 appears in 3 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 Color 40 appears in 3 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.
- 3
- catalogued products
- #35,091
- usage rank of 247,206
- 1
- 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.
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 Red Color 40 as the trigger. Open records such as Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes; Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes; Mini Bundt Cakes and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 90.0/100 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 3 of 3 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 Color 40 ranks above 85.8% of catalogued ingredients
- Usage rank
- #35,091
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 11,093 others that also appear in exactly 3 products.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 77%
- Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 3 products listing it (mean slot 38.3). Red Color 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.
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.
Products Containing Red Color 40
All 3 indexed products that name Red Color 40:
Count and score peers around flagged Red Color 40
With 100% co-flag overlap, compare peers on count and mean score separately — Red Color 40 spans 3 products at 90/100 average screening score.
Similar mean product score
Mean product-score neighbours (≥50 scored products), kept separate from the product-count peers above.
What to do with this Red Color 40 record
3 product rows plus any FDA/CSPI fields on Red Color 40 are the evidence base — drill into the listings that matter for your decision.
- Check the listed products containing Red Color 40 before treating the aggregate count as a personal conclusion. See listed products
- Compare another ingredient’s source-backed rating, FDA status, and product footprint. Browse ingredient records
- 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How should I read safety signals when Red Color 40 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 Red Color 40 is the trigger. None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.
Where does Red Color 40 show up across the catalog? ▼
Red Color 40 sits above the median for catalog prevalence (3 products, #35,091 of 247,206) across 1 named brands. Category mix varies — use the linked records rather than treating any single shelf as representative.
Why is Red Color 40 so common on ingredient lists? ▼
The current source record does not specify a technical effect for Red Color 40. Its near the end of the captured list and product examples are shown without guessing why manufacturers include it.
Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Red Color 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.