Our Methodology — How We Rate Food Additives

The Everything Added to Food in the United States (EAFUS) database is maintained by FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN). It lists all substances intentionally added to food in the US, including their technical function, regulatory basis (GRAS, approved food additive, prior sanctioned), CAS registry number, and relevant 21 CFR regulatory citation.

This database is the foundation of our additive catalog. Every additive in our database was initially sourced from EAFUS. We use the EAFUS name, CAS number, and functional class as the canonical identifier.

OpenFoodTox is the European Food Safety Authority's database of hazard characterisations for substances evaluated in EFSA's scientific outputs. We use it to determine EU regulatory status, available ADI (Acceptable Daily Intake), and EFSA safety opinions for substances in our database.

EU approval status is cross-referenced with the EU Food Additive Portal (Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008), which is the authoritative list of additives approved for use in food in the European Union.

The CFSAN Adverse Event Reporting System (CAERS) is a voluntary reporting database for adverse events associated with foods, dietary supplements, and cosmetics. Adverse event reports are submitted by consumers, healthcare providers, and manufacturers. We query OpenFDA's CAERS endpoint to count adverse events mentioning each additive or products containing it.

Food recall data is sourced from the OpenFDA food enforcement endpoint, which mirrors FDA's enforcement actions database. Recall counts are associated with additives through product name matching.

Open Food Facts is a collaborative open database of food products from around the world. We use it to determine which commercial products commonly contain each additive, populating the "commonly found in" fields on additive pages. Data is used under the Open Database License (ODbL) and remains attributed to the Open Food Facts project.

• Approved in both the US (FDA) and EU (EFSA)
• No significant adverse event signal in CAERS relative to usage prevalence
• No active regulatory review or revocation proceedings
• No EFSA or FDA scientific opinion identifying significant concerns
• Not on any IARC carcinogen list (Groups 1, 2A, 2B)

Examples: Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), Pectin, Citric Acid

• Restricted in one or more major markets (not fully banned)
• OR: EFSA or FDA opinion identifies concerns at higher doses
• OR: Emerging peer-reviewed literature with significant findings (not yet reflected in regulation)
• OR: Requires warning labeling in at least one major jurisdiction
• OR: Moderate adverse event signal inconsistent with usage prevalence

Examples: Carrageenan, BHT, Sodium Benzoate, Yellow 5 (Tartrazine)

• Banned or not approved for food use in the EU, UK, Canada, or Australia
• OR: Listed by IARC as Group 1 (carcinogenic) or Group 2A (probably carcinogenic)
• OR: FDA has issued a formal revocation, warning letter, or recall related to this substance
• OR: High adverse event count that cannot be explained by usage prevalence alone
• OR: Multiple independent regulatory bodies have restricted use pending further review

Examples: Potassium Bromate, Azodicarbonamide, Red 3, Titanium Dioxide

• Fewer than 3 independent peer-reviewed studies on safety
• AND: No major regulatory opinion (FDA or EFSA) has been issued
• AND: Adverse event data is too sparse to draw conclusions

Examples: Many GRAS-notified flavoring agents with limited public safety data