Release Agent
Release Agent appears in 84 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
Release Agent appears in 84 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.
- 84
- catalogued products
- #3,553
- usage rank of 247,206
- 29
- named brands represented
- 90%
- 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
Separate this ingredient from its product neighborhood
This is a mixed product neighborhood: 30 of 84 records have some flagged component, while the rest do not. Compare American Cheese; American Cheese; American Deli Slices to see how surrounding formulations change; do not assign their 60–100 score range to Release Agent itself. The ingredient most often sits near the end of the captured list, and Dairies supplies the most useful like-for-like starting point for a label review.
30 of 84 linked records have some flagged component
All 84 NOVA-classified records cluster most heavily in Group 4, while the first-category labels split across several shelves. That makes the 60–100 score spread more informative than the average alone: investigate the low end, identify the actual flagged row, and compare it with a similar unflagged formulation before drawing a conclusion.
Next check: pair one flagged product with a similar unflagged product from the same shelf category.
Release Agent sits in the busiest tenth of the catalog (#3,553 / 247,206)
- Usage rank
- #3,553
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, tied with 23 others that also appear in exactly 84 products, listed in more products than 98.6% of them.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 90%
- Averaged label depth puts Release Agent near the end of the captured list (90% of list length, mean slot 27.0). 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.
What else is usually in the same product as Release Agent
Across the 84 products on this site that list Release Agent, 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. Sodium Nitrite shows up about 5x more often with Release Agent than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Release Agent products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sodium Nitrite | 10 | 11.9% | 2.4% |
| Carrageenan | 8 | 9.5% | 4.5% |
| Caramel Coloring | 8 | 9.5% | 5.7% |
| Propyl Gallate | 7 | 8.3% | 0.2% |
| BHA | 7 | 8.3% | 0.7% |
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 Release Agent
Products Containing Release Agent
16 busy labels from the 84 indexed products that list Release Agent:
Release Agent vs other top-decile catalog footprints
Top-decile company for Release Agent: 84 listings averaging 94/100. Comparable product-count neighbours: Active Cultures · Annatto And Turmeric Extract · Beef Gelatine.
Similar product count
Nearest other ingredients by Open Food Facts product count (floored at ≥50).
Similar mean product score
Nearest other ingredients by mean product screening score (floored at ≥50 scored products), distinct from the count row.
Next steps from the Release Agent page
Use the 84-product footprint and source labels as a starting point, then inspect the records most relevant to your question.
- Review the sampled product records that list Release Agent to see how the ingredient appears in actual labels. See listed products
- Compare Release Agent with a peer such as “Active Cultures” on source-backed rating, FDA status, and product footprint. Open a peer record
- Check the methodology for how FDA SAFFA, CSPI, and Open Food Facts rows are joined on this site. See source joins
This page describes published source classifications and product-label coverage. It is not dietary, allergy, or medical advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Release Agent carry its own safety label in this catalog? ▼
This is a mixed neighborhood: some linked products carry a separate flag while others do not. This snapshot does not attach a standalone FDA/CSPI verdict to Release Agent. Compare like-for-like products before treating the average screening score as an ingredient verdict.
Which product shelves show up most often with Release Agent? ▼
Release Agent ranks in the top decile by product count (#3,553 of 247,206), appearing in 84 indexed products led by Dairies. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
Why is Release Agent so common on ingredient lists? ▼
The source record does not name a technical effect, yet Release Agent appears in 84 products (#3,553 usage rank). High prevalence here describes formulation frequency, not an approved use level.
Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Release Agent). 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.