Controversial additive · Moderate concern

Sucralose

PlainFoodSafe flags Sucralose as a controversial additive. CSPI Chemical Cuisine rates it “Avoid.” It appears in 10,913 indexed US food products.

Source-backed answer

Sucralose appears in 10,913 catalogued products. CSPI rates it “Avoid.” Its FDA SAFFA status is “Approved.” Those source labels describe the ingredient; they do not establish whether a particular product, dose, allergy, or diet is safe.

10,913
catalogued products
#106
usage rank of 247,206
1,698
named brands represented
71%
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.

High-volume listing for Sucralose - usage rank #106

Usage rank
#106
of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product.
Typical depth in an ingredient list
71%
Of the way down the captured list, averaged across the 10,914 products listing it (mean slot 13.0). Sucralose 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.

Derived by this site from the ingredient lists of every catalogued product (Open Food Facts), recomputed on each data refresh. 247,206 ingredients have at least one appearance and are ranked here. Usage and list position describe prevalence, not safety.

How common is Sucralose vs other flagged additives?

Number of indexed products containing each of the most common flagged additives - Sucralose highlighted.

Caramel Coloring: 23161 · 100% of the leaderCaramel Coloring23161Red 40: 22216 · 96% of the leaderRed 4022216Yellow 5: 19566 · 84% of the leaderYellow 519566Carrageenan: 18307 · 79% of the leaderCarrageenan18307Blue 1: 17024 · 74% of the leaderBlue 117024Yellow 6: 13787 · 60% of the leaderYellow 613787Sucralose: 10913 · 47% of the leaderSucralose10913Sodium Nitrite: 9702 · 42% of the leaderSodium Nitrite9702
Indexed products containing each flagged additive. Source: Open Food Facts ingredient lists × FDA SAFFA × CSPI Chemical Cuisine.
Chart values as text

Unit: indexed products. Data current as of September 2026.

Caramel Coloring
23161
Red 40
22216
Yellow 5
19566
Carrageenan
18307
Blue 1
17024
Yellow 6
13787
Sucralose
10913
Sodium Nitrite
9702

How to use this page

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 Sucralose as the trigger. Open records such as 0 Calorie Sucralose Sweetener; 0-calorie sweetener; 0-calorie sweetener and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 68.2/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 71% 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 10890 of 10890 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 Sucralose

Across the 10,913 products on this site that list Sucralose, 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. Acesulfame Potassium shows up about 23.9x more often with Sucralose than in the catalogue at large.

Acesulfame Potassium: +41.3ppAcesulfame Potassium+41.3ppCarrageenan: +8ppCarrageenan+8ppRed 40: +6.7ppRed 40+6.7ppCaramel Coloring: +4.2ppCaramel Coloring+4.2ppBlue 1: +3.9ppBlue 1+3.9pp
Percentage-point gap vs the catalogue baseline rate for each additive, Sucralose products only. Source: Open Food Facts ingredient lists.
Chart values as text

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

Acesulfame Potassium
41.3pp
Carrageenan
8pp
Red 40
6.7pp
Caramel Coloring
4.2pp
Blue 1
3.9pp
Additive Shared products Share of Sucralose products Share of all products
Acesulfame Potassium 4,708 43.1% 1.8%
Carrageenan 1,362 12.5% 4.5%
Red 40 1,316 12.1% 5.4%
Caramel Coloring 1,085 9.9% 5.7%
Blue 1 887 8.1% 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.

Function

NUTRITIVE SWEETENER

Safety Concerns

Controversial additive

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 Sucralose

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 5060708090 0.511.522.533.5 Safety score Flagged ingredients on label Safety score vs. flagged-ingredient count for products containing Sucralose
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.

High-volume peers for Sucralose beside “Niacinamide”

Sucralose sits among other busy catalog rows (10,913 products, mean score 68.2/100). Nearest count peers include “Niacinamide”, “Calcium Chloride”, “Vanilla Extract”. 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

Score-axis peers only, mean screening score among ingredients with ≥50 scored products, not a second count list.

Using the Sucralose evidence

Start from Sucralose's 10,913 catalogued appearances and the attached source fields, then open the product rows that match your use case.

  • Open the product sample for Sucralose and read how the term sits on real packages. See listed products
  • Compare Sucralose with a peer such as “Niacinamide” 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. See source joins

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

Sucralose — common follow-ups

How should I read safety signals when Sucralose 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 Sucralose is the trigger. Where a source rating exists, Sucralose scores 1/5 on this site's screening scale and CSPI lists it as "Avoid" with FDA SAFFA status "Approved". None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.

Which product shelves show up most often with Sucralose?

Sucralose ranks in the top decile by product count (#106 of 247,206), appearing in 10,913 indexed products led by Beverages. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.

What function does Sucralose serve when it appears beside other flagged additives?

Sucralose is recorded as a nutritive sweetener 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 (Sucralose). 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.