Sodium Nitrite
PlainFoodSafe flags Sodium Nitrite as a preservative concern. CSPI Chemical Cuisine rates it “Avoid.” It appears in 9,702 indexed US food products.
Source-backed answer
Sodium Nitrite appears in 9,702 catalogued products. CSPI rates it “Avoid.” Its FDA SAFFA status is “Prior Sanctioned.” Those source labels describe the ingredient; they do not establish whether a particular product, dose, allergy, or diet is safe.
- 9,702
- catalogued products
- #121
- usage rank of 247,206
- 1,492
- named brands represented
- 83%
- 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.
Sodium Nitrite sits in the busiest tenth of the catalog (#121 / 247,206)
- Usage rank
- #121
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 83%
- Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 9,708 products listing it (mean slot 18.5). Sodium Nitrite 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.
How common is Sodium Nitrite vs other flagged additives?
Number of indexed products containing each of the most common flagged additives - Sodium Nitrite 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 Sodium Nitrite as the trigger. Open records such as 1 lb. Hot dog; 1 slice hard salami 2 slices mild cheddar cheese; 1/2 Cheese Pizza & 1/2 Pepperoni Pizza and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 77.9/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 83% 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 8557 of 9538 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 Sodium Nitrite
Across the 9,702 products on this site that list Sodium Nitrite, 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. BHA shows up about 21.6x more often with Sodium Nitrite than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Sodium Nitrite products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| BHA | 1,468 | 15.1% | 0.7% |
| BHT | 1,438 | 14.8% | 1.1% |
| Caramel Coloring | 827 | 8.5% | 5.7% |
| Carrageenan | 663 | 6.8% | 4.5% |
| Sodium Nitrate | 310 | 3.2% | 0.2% |
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.
Function
ANTIMICROBIAL AGENT, ANTIOXIDANT, COLOR OR COLORING ADJUNCT, FLAVOR ENHANCER, FLAVORING AGENT OR ADJUVANT, PROPELLANT
Safety Concerns
Preservative concern
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 Sodium Nitrite
Products Containing Sodium Nitrite
A sample of 16 high-volume listings among the 9,702 indexed products containing Sodium Nitrite:
Sodium Nitrite vs other top-decile catalog footprints
Sodium Nitrite sits among other busy catalog rows (9,702 products, mean score 77.9/100). Catalog-mass neighbours in view: Calcium Carbonate; Lemon Juice Concentrate; Pork. 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
Mean product-score neighbours (≥50 scored products), kept separate from the product-count peers above.
Using the Sodium Nitrite evidence
9,702 product rows plus any FDA/CSPI fields on Sodium Nitrite are the evidence base — drill into the listings that matter for your decision.
- Review the sampled product records that list Sodium Nitrite to see how the ingredient appears in actual labels. Browse linked labels
- Place Sodium Nitrite next to “Lemon Juice Concentrate” (or another peer) using the same FDA/CSPI and prevalence fields. Browse ingredient records
- 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 Sodium Nitrite
How should I read safety signals when Sodium Nitrite 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 Sodium Nitrite is the trigger. Where a source rating exists, Sodium Nitrite scores 1/5 on this site's screening scale and CSPI lists it as "Avoid" with FDA SAFFA status "Prior Sanctioned". None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.
Which product shelves show up most often with Sodium Nitrite? ▼
Sodium Nitrite ranks in the top decile by product count (#121 of 247,206), appearing in 9,702 indexed products led by Meats and their products. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
What function does Sodium Nitrite serve when it appears beside other flagged additives? ▼
Sodium Nitrite is recorded as a antimicrobial agent, antioxidant, color or coloring adjunct, flavor enhancer, flavoring agent or adjuvant, propellant 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 (Sodium Nitrite). 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.