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How We Evaluate Ingredients

Every additive in our database goes through the same four-step check. Here's exactly what that looks like, with live examples pulled straight from our current data.

The pipeline: source → jurisdiction → classification → date checked

  1. Source: a specific regulatory action or publication — a regulation number, an agency ruling, a positive-list entry or its absence — not a general impression of a substance's reputation.
  2. Jurisdiction: which of the six regulatory bodies (see Regulatory Sources) the action applies to. The same substance can be treated differently in different places.
  3. Regulatory classification: food regulation isn't binary. We record whether a substance is prohibited (banned outright), restricted (permitted only in specific food categories, capped at a maximum level, or requiring a warning label), under review (an agency has an active re-evaluation but hasn't issued a final ruling), or permitted under general conditions.
  4. Date checked: regulatory status changes. Every entry records when it was last verified, so you can judge how current it is rather than assuming it's permanently accurate.

Real examples from our database

Titanium DioxideTier 3 · UglyProhibited
Source:
EU (banned Feb 2022); Oman; voluntarily removed by many US brands
Date checked:
2026-08-11
Sodium DiacetateTier 2 · BadderRestricted
Source:
Sodium diacetate (E262(ii)) is not banned in the EU, UK, Canada, Australia, or Japan — it is authorized in the EU under Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 (Group I, quantum satis) and approved in Australia/New Zealand (code 262). However, it is restricted from a specific food category:
Date checked:
2026-08-22
Ferrous SulfateTier 1 · BadPermitted
Source:
Ferrous sulfate is one of the most common iron fortificants used worldwide; it is not banned or specially restricted as a food additive in the EU, UK, Canada, Australia, or Japan. Search results confirm it is a widely recommended fortificant: "The iron compounds recommended for w
Date checked:
2026-08-22

What this app does NOT claim

  • This is not medical advice, and the Chemical Safety Score is not a health or safety guarantee.
  • A higher tier reflects stricter regulatory treatment elsewhere in the world (a ban, a cap, a warning label) — it is not an independent toxicology assessment we performed ourselves.
  • A Tier 1 result means we found no ban, cap, or warning-label requirement in the checked regions — not that a substance is risk-free.
  • Regulatory status changes. The date-checked field tells you how current an entry is; we don't claim continuous real-time monitoring of every regulator, in every jurisdiction, for every substance.
  • We don't independently re-run every regulator's underlying scientific studies — we report what each has published.