Yellow 5
PlainFoodSafe flags Yellow 5 as a synthetic dye. CSPI Chemical Cuisine rates it “Avoid.” It appears in 19,566 indexed US food products. A California (schools) restriction takes effect2027-12-31.
Source-backed answer
Yellow 5 appears in 19,566 catalogued products. CSPI rates it “Avoid.” Its FDA SAFFA status is “Approved (certified color).” Those source labels describe the ingredient; they do not establish whether a particular product, dose, allergy, or diet is safe.
- 19,566
- catalogued products
- #47
- usage rank of 247,206
- 2,326
- named brands represented
- 80%
- 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 Yellow 5 - usage rank #47
- Usage rank
- #47
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 80%
- Averaged label depth puts Yellow 5 near the end of the captured list (80% of list length, mean slot 19.8). Compound ingredients and OCR noise mean this cannot stand in for quantity.
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 Yellow 5 vs other flagged additives?
Number of indexed products containing each of the most common flagged additives - Yellow 5 highlighted.
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 Yellow 5 as the trigger. Open records such as 0016500579793; 1 Wow!, Lollipop Bouquet; 1/2 Marble Grad Cake With Red Borders and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 23.5/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 80% 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 19544 of 19559 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 Yellow 5
Across the 19,566 products on this site that list Yellow 5, 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. Blue 1 shows up about 13.6x more often with Yellow 5 than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Yellow 5 products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue 1 | 11,186 | 57.2% | 4.2% |
| Red 40 | 10,841 | 55.4% | 5.4% |
| Yellow 6 | 10,546 | 53.9% | 3.4% |
| Titanium Dioxide | 3,522 | 18% | 2.1% |
| Red 3 | 3,169 | 16.2% | 1.1% |
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.
Safety Concerns
Synthetic dye
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 Yellow 5
Products Containing Yellow 5
High-volume slice (16 of 19,566) for products naming Yellow 5:
Yellow 5 vs other top-decile catalog footprints
Top-decile company for Yellow 5: 19,566 listings averaging 23.5/100. Comparable product-count neighbours: Cornstarch · Lactic Acid · Blue 1.
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 Yellow 5 evidence
Use the 19,566-product footprint and source labels as a starting point, then inspect the records most relevant to your question.
- Check the listed products containing Yellow 5 before treating the aggregate count as a personal conclusion. See listed products
- Move to a second ingredient page and compare registry fields plus catalog mass side by side. Browse ingredient records
- Check the methodology for how FDA SAFFA, CSPI, and Open Food Facts rows are joined on this site. Read the methodology
This page describes published source classifications and product-label coverage. It is not dietary, allergy, or medical advice.
Yellow 5 — common follow-ups
How should I read safety signals when Yellow 5 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 Yellow 5 is the trigger. Where a source rating exists, Yellow 5 scores 1/5 on this site's screening scale and CSPI lists it as "Avoid" with FDA SAFFA status "Approved (certified color)". None of that replaces a product-, dose-, allergy-, or person-specific determination.
Which product shelves show up most often with Yellow 5? ▼
Yellow 5 ranks in the top decile by product count (#47 of 247,206), appearing in 19,566 indexed products led by Snacks. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
Why is Yellow 5 so common on ingredient lists? ▼
The source record does not name a technical effect, yet Yellow 5 appears in 19,566 products (#47 usage rank). High prevalence here describes formulation frequency, not an approved use level.
Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Yellow 5). 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.