Soybean Lecithin

Soybean Lecithin appears in 879 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

Soybean Lecithin appears in 879 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.

879
catalogued products
#720
usage rank of 247,206
193
named brands represented
59%
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

58.4% of the linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, making co-occurrence the dominant follow-up question. That figure does not identify Soybean Lecithin as the trigger. Open records such as 4 Milk Chocolate Shakes; 4 Quarters Margarine; 51% vegetable oil spread and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 71.9/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 59% average label depth helps locate the term when checking the package.

58.4% of linked products contain a separately flagged ingredient

Processing is unusually concentrated here: Group 4 accounts for 879 of 879 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.

Soybean Lecithin: top-decile catalog footprint (#720 of 247,206)

Usage rank
#720
of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product, listed in more products than 99.7% of them.
Typical depth in an ingredient list
59%
Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 884 products listing it (mean slot 23.9). Soybean Lecithin usually falls in the lower half of the 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 Soybean Lecithin

Across the 879 products on this site that list Soybean Lecithin, 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. Polysorbate 60 shows up about 27.5x more often with Soybean Lecithin than in the catalogue at large.

Polysorbate 60: +37.1ppPolysorbate 60+37.1ppYellow 5: +17.6ppYellow 5+17.6ppBlue 1: +17.8ppBlue 1+17.8ppYellow 6: +15.8ppYellow 6+15.8ppRed 40: +13.3ppRed 40+13.3pp
Percentage-point gap vs the catalogue baseline rate for each additive, Soybean Lecithin products only. Source: Open Food Facts ingredient lists.
Chart values as text

Unit: percentage points above/below baseline. Data current as of September 2026.

Polysorbate 60
37.1pp
Yellow 5
17.6pp
Blue 1
17.8pp
Yellow 6
15.8pp
Red 40
13.3pp
Additive Shared products Share of Soybean Lecithin products Share of all products
Polysorbate 60 338 38.5% 1.4%
Yellow 5 197 22.4% 4.8%
Blue 1 193 22% 4.2%
Yellow 6 169 19.2% 3.4%
Red 40 164 18.7% 5.4%

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 Soybean Lecithin

Per-product safety score and flagged-ingredient count from the same sampled listings shown below. Bubble size = linked ingredient rows. Source: Open Food Facts labels x FDA SAFFA x CSPI Chemical Cuisine. 2×2 strategic matrix plotting 16 entities by Safety score (X) and Flagged ingredients on label (Y), with a crosshair dividing the plot into four quadrants. High score, still flaggedLow score, more flaggedHigh score, fewer flaggedLow score, fewer flagged 050100150 02468 Safety score Flagged ingredients on label Safety score vs. flagged-ingredient count for products containing Soybean Lecithin
Per-product safety score and flagged-ingredient count from the same sampled listings shown below. Bubble size = linked ingredient rows. Source: Open Food Facts labels x FDA SAFFA x CSPI Chemical Cuisine.

Peer ingredients with comparable catalog mass (near “Graham Flour”)

Top-decile company for Soybean Lecithin: 879 listings averaging 71.9/100. Catalog-mass neighbours in view: Graham Flour; Strawberry Juice Concentrate; Horseradish.

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.

Using the Soybean Lecithin evidence

Start from Soybean Lecithin's 879 catalogued appearances and the attached source fields, then open the product rows that match your use case.

  • Review the sampled product records that list Soybean Lecithin to see how the ingredient appears in actual labels. Open product sample
  • Compare Soybean Lecithin with a peer such as “Graham Flour” on source-backed rating, FDA status, and product footprint. Open a peer record
  • See the join rules behind screening scores before reading them as dietary advice. Open methodology

This page describes published source classifications and product-label coverage. It is not dietary, allergy, or medical advice.

Questions readers ask about Soybean Lecithin

How should I read safety signals when Soybean Lecithin sits in heavily flagged products?

58.4% of linked products contain at least one separately flagged ingredient, so the first task is locating which row carries the caution marker — not assuming Soybean Lecithin is the trigger. None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.

Which product shelves show up most often with Soybean Lecithin?

Soybean Lecithin ranks in the top decile by product count (#720 of 247,206), appearing in 879 indexed products led by Snacks. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.

Why is Soybean Lecithin so common on ingredient lists?

The source record does not name a technical effect, yet Soybean Lecithin appears in 879 products (#720 usage rank). High prevalence here describes formulation frequency, not an approved use level.

Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Soybean Lecithin). 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.