Chemical Cuisine FAQ

Learn more about food additives, how our rating system works, and why CSPI maintains this consumer tool in our Frequently Asked Questions. Click any question on the right to read the answer.

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A legal loophole lets the food and beverage industries—not the FDA—decide which ingredients are safe for us to eat. Thousands of chemicals added to our foods have never undergone independent safety evaluations by the FDA.

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Chemical Cuisine Additive Safety Ratings

Chemical Cuisine entries can be filtered by safety rating, purpose, or health concern. Entries are organized alphabetically, and you can choose a letter from A to Z in the leftmost column to see all entries beginning with that letter. You can also scroll the list on this page to see all food additives for which we have ratings. See the FAQ above for more information. 

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