Yellow 6
PlainFoodSafe flags Yellow 6 as a synthetic dye. CSPI Chemical Cuisine rates it “Avoid.” It appears in 13,787 indexed US food products. A California (schools) restriction takes effect2027-12-31.
Source-backed answer
Yellow 6 appears in 13,787 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.
- 13,787
- catalogued products
- #64
- usage rank of 247,206
- 1,772
- named brands represented
- 79%
- 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 6 - usage rank #64
- Usage rank
- #64
- of 247,206 ingredients that appear in at least one catalogued product.
- Typical depth in an ingredient list
- 79%
- Mean relative depth 79% across 15,751 parsed labels, slot 21.8 on average. Yellow 6 tends to sit near the end of the captured list. Depth is location on the label, not a measured dose.
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 Yellow 6 vs other flagged additives?
Number of indexed products containing each of the most common flagged additives - Yellow 6 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 6 as the trigger. Open records such as 1 Wow!, Lollipop Bouquet; 1/2 Marble Grad Cake With Red Borders; 12 Flavor Gummi Bears and inspect which ingredient row carries the caution marker. The 17.1/100 product average is therefore a triage signal for this surrounding formulation set, not an ingredient verdict. Its 79% 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 13776 of 13780 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 6
Across the 13,787 products on this site that list Yellow 6, 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. Yellow 5 shows up about 15.9x more often with Yellow 6 than in the catalogue at large.
| Additive | Shared products | Share of Yellow 6 products | Share of all products |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow 5 | 10,546 | 76.5% | 4.8% |
| Red 40 | 8,907 | 64.6% | 5.4% |
| Blue 1 | 7,465 | 54.1% | 4.2% |
| Blue 2 | 2,798 | 20.3% | 0.9% |
| Red 3 | 2,753 | 20% | 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 6
Products Containing Yellow 6
16 busy labels from the 13,787 indexed products that list Yellow 6:
Peer ingredients with comparable catalog mass (near “Sodium Phosphate”)
Top-decile company for Yellow 6: 13,787 listings averaging 17.1/100. Comparable product-count neighbours: Sodium Phosphate · Cheese Culture · Emulsifier.
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.
What to do with this Yellow 6 record
Use the 13,787-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 Yellow 6 to see how the ingredient appears in actual labels. Browse linked labels
- Place Yellow 6 next to “Cheese Culture” (or another peer) using the same FDA/CSPI and prevalence fields. Open a peer record
- See the join rules behind screening scores before reading them as dietary advice. Read the methodology
This page describes published source classifications and product-label coverage. It is not dietary, allergy, or medical advice.
Questions readers ask about Yellow 6
How should I read safety signals when Yellow 6 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 6 is the trigger. Where a source rating exists, Yellow 6 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 6? ▼
Yellow 6 ranks in the top decile by product count (#64 of 247,206), appearing in 13,787 indexed products led by Snacks. The sample list below is a slice of that footprint, not the full universe.
Why is Yellow 6 so common on ingredient lists? ▼
The source record does not name a technical effect, yet Yellow 6 appears in 13,787 products (#64 usage rank). High prevalence here describes formulation frequency, not an approved use level.
Regulatory status: FDA SAFFA (Yellow 6). 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.