Food statistics, with sources

Data table

Age group	Share of calories
Ages 1–5	56.1%
Ages 6–11	64.8%
Ages 12–18	63.0%
Ages 19–39	54.4%
Ages 40–59	52.6%
Ages 60 and over	51.7%

Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, NCHS Data Brief No. 536, August 2025.

• Ultra-processed foods supplied 55.0% of the calories eaten by people aged 1 and older in the United States between August 2021 and August 2023.

  Official statistics CDC National Center for Health Statistics: NCHS Data Brief No. 536, August 2025

• Children and teenagers aged 1 to 18 got 61.9% of their calories from ultra-processed foods, compared with 53.0% for adults aged 19 and older.

  Official statistics CDC National Center for Health Statistics: NCHS Data Brief No. 536, August 2025

• By age group, ultra-processed foods supplied 56.1% of calories at ages 1 to 5, 64.8% at ages 6 to 11, 63.0% at ages 12 to 18, 54.4% at ages 19 to 39, 52.6% at ages 40 to 59 and 51.7% at age 60 and older in the United States between August 2021 and August 2023.

  Official statistics CDC National Center for Health Statistics: NCHS Data Brief No. 536, August 2025

• The share of calories from ultra-processed foods in the United States fell between 2017–2018 and August 2021–August 2023: from 65.6% to 61.9% for youth aged 1 to 18 and from 56.0% to 53.0% for adults.

  Official statistics CDC National Center for Health Statistics: NCHS Data Brief No. 536, August 2025

• For US youth aged 1 to 18, the largest ultra-processed sources of calories were sandwiches including burgers (7.6% of all calories), sweet bakery products (6.3%), savoury snacks (4.9%), pizza (4.7%) and sweetened beverages (3.9%).

  Official statistics CDC National Center for Health Statistics: NCHS Data Brief No. 536, August 2025

• In July 2025 the US Department of Health and Human Services said the United States had no single authoritative definition of ultra-processed foods, and FDA and USDA asked the public for input to develop one.

  Official position US Department of Health and Human Services: HHS, FDA and USDA request for information on ultra-processed foods, 23 July 2025

• On 10 August 2026 HHS announced that HHS and USDA had submitted the federal government’s first proposed definition of ultra-processed foods for final review.

  Official position US Department of Health and Human Services: HHS announces ultra-processed foods and GRAS reforms, 10 August 2026

• The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030, tell Americans to avoid highly processed packaged, prepared, ready-to-eat or other foods that are salty or sweet.

  Official guidance US Departments of Health and Human Services and of Agriculture: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030, January 2026

• The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030, say to limit foods and beverages that include artificial flavours, petroleum-based dyes, artificial preservatives and low-calorie non-nutritive sweeteners.

  Official guidance US Departments of Health and Human Services and of Agriculture: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030, January 2026

• The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030, state that no amount of added sugars is recommended and that one meal should contain no more than 10 grams of added sugars.

  Official guidance US Departments of Health and Human Services and of Agriculture: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030, January 2026

• In Canada, ultra-processed foods supplied on average 45.7% of the daily energy intake of people aged 2 and older in 2015, according to a Statistics Canada study.

  Official statistics Statistics Canada: Health Reports, 19 November 2025

• In the United Kingdom, estimates of ultra-processed food intake range from 51% to 68% of dietary energy, depending on age and socioeconomic status, according to the government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition.

  Official position Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (UK): SACN statement on processed foods and health, 11 July 2023

• US adults aged 20 and older consumed an average of 17 teaspoons of added sugars a day in 2017–2018, according to CDC.

  Official statistics Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Get the Facts: Added Sugars, updated 29 April 2026

• WHO says free sugars should be limited to less than 10% of total daily energy intake, about 50 grams or 12 level teaspoons for a person consuming about 2,000 calories a day, and that limiting them further to 5% or less may bring additional health benefits.

  Official guidance World Health Organization: Healthy diet fact sheet, 26 January 2026

• Americans eat about 3,400 mg of sodium a day on average, against a recommended limit of less than 2,300 mg, and more than 70% of it comes from packaged and prepared foods, according to the FDA.

  Official statistics US Food and Drug Administration: Sodium in Your Diet, content current as of 5 March 2024

• The global mean sodium intake of adults was 4,278 mg a day in 2021, against the less than 2,000 mg a day that WHO recommends, and an estimated 1.7 million deaths were associated with consuming too much sodium in 2023.

  Official statistics World Health Organization: Sodium reduction fact sheet, 11 May 2026

• More than 278,000 deaths each year worldwide can be attributed to intake of industrially produced trans fat, according to WHO.

  Official statistics World Health Organization: Trans fat fact sheet, 24 January 2024

• The EU limits trans fat, other than trans fat naturally occurring in animal fat, to 2 grams per 100 grams of fat in food for consumers and retail. Food that did not comply could be placed on the market only until 1 April 2021.

  Law European Union: Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/649, 24 April 2019

• The US FDA released its final determination that partially hydrogenated oils are not “generally recognized as safe” on 16 June 2015.

  Official position US Food and Drug Administration: Final Determination Regarding Partially Hydrogenated Oils, content current as of 1 October 2024

• India limits industrial trans fatty acids to 2% by mass of the oils and fats in a food product, a limit that has applied since 1 January 2022.

  Law Food Safety and Standards Authority of India: Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales Regulations (compendium), version of 2 April 2025

• 40.3% of US adults aged 20 and older had obesity between August 2021 and August 2023, and 9.4% had severe obesity.

  Official statistics CDC National Center for Health Statistics: NCHS Data Brief No. 508, September 2024

• 21.1% of US children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 had obesity between August 2021 and August 2023.

  Official statistics CDC National Center for Health Statistics: NCHS Health E-Stat 112, February 2026

• In 2022, 2.5 billion adults worldwide were overweight, of whom 890 million were living with obesity, according to WHO.

  Official statistics World Health Organization: Obesity and overweight fact sheet, 8 December 2025

• UNICEF reported in September 2025 that obesity among children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 (9.4%) had exceeded underweight (9.2%) for the first time, and that obesity affects 188 million of them, or 1 in 10.

  Official statistics UNICEF: Obesity exceeds underweight for the first time among school-age children and adolescents, 10 September 2025

• An estimated 40.1 million people in the United States, 12.0% of the population, had diabetes in 2023, according to CDC.

  Official statistics Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Diabetes data and research, updated 16 September 2026

• Dietary risk factors were linked to 11 million deaths worldwide in 2017, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017, published in The Lancet in 2019.

  Peer-reviewed study GBD 2017 Diet Collaborators, The Lancet: Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990–2017, May 2019

• The International Agency for Research on Cancer classified processed meat as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1) in October 2015 and reported that each 50-gram portion eaten daily increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%. IARC added that for an individual the risk remains small but increases with the amount of meat consumed.

  Official position International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO): Press release No. 240, 26 October 2015

• IARC lists ingested nitrate or nitrite, under conditions that result in endogenous nitrosation, in Group 2A. This is a separate listing from processed meat, which is in Group 1.

  Official position International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO): Agents classified by the IARC Monographs, list covering Monographs volumes 1 to 123

• In May 2023 WHO recommended against using non-sugar sweeteners to control body weight or to reduce the risk of noncommunicable diseases. The recommendation applies to all people except individuals with pre-existing diabetes, and covers sweeteners such as acesulfame K, aspartame, advantame, cyclamates, neotame, saccharin, sucralose, stevia and stevia derivatives.

  Official guidance World Health Organization: WHO advises not to use non-sugar sweeteners for weight control, 15 May 2023

• In July 2023 IARC classified aspartame as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B), while the FAO/WHO expert committee on food additives reaffirmed the acceptable daily intake of 40 mg per kilogram of body weight.

  Official position World Health Organization, IARC and JECFA: Aspartame hazard and risk assessment results released, 14 July 2023

• In the FDA’s 2019 Food Safety and Nutrition Survey, 87% of US adults said they had looked at the Nutrition Facts label on food packages, and 45% said they often check the list of ingredients when buying a product for the first time.

  Official statistics US Food and Drug Administration: 2019 Food Safety and Nutrition Survey report, March 2021

• More than 300 substances are authorised for use as food additives in the EU, according to the European Food Safety Authority.

  Official position European Food Safety Authority: Food additives, last reviewed 13 April 2026

• EFSA is re-evaluating the additives approved before 20 January 2009. As of 18 February 2026 it had covered 244 of the 315, leaving 71 still to be re-evaluated.

  Official statistics European Commission: Re-evaluation of food additives, status as of 18 February 2026

• FDA’s Substances Added to Food inventory listed 3,971 substances when checked on 2 October 2026. FDA describes it as only a partial list of food ingredients.

  Official statistics US Food and Drug Administration: Substances Added to Food inventory, page updated 28 July 2026

• Under current US rules a company that concludes a substance is “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) may, but is not required to, notify FDA. On 11 August 2026 FDA proposed a rule that would make notification mandatory for certain uses, with comments due by 9 December 2026.

  Law US Food and Drug Administration: Substances Generally Recognized as Safe (proposed rule), 11 August 2026

• Synthetic dyes were present in 19% of 39,763 packaged foods and beverages from the top 25 US food manufacturers in 2020, a study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found. The most common was Red No. 40, in 14% of products.

  Peer-reviewed study Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Dunford and others, All the Colors of the Rainbow: Synthetic Dyes in US Packaged Foods and Beverages in 2020, September 2025

• In a study of 39,763 packaged foods and beverages from the top 25 US food manufacturers, 28% of products in the five categories most marketed to children contained synthetic dyes, compared with 11% in the remaining categories.

  Peer-reviewed study Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Dunford and others, All the Colors of the Rainbow: Synthetic Dyes in US Packaged Foods and Beverages in 2020, September 2025

• A 2007 trial carried out at the University of Southampton, funded by the UK Food Standards Agency and published in The Lancet, tested mixtures of artificial colours and the preservative sodium benzoate on 153 three-year-olds and 144 eight-to-nine-year-olds from the general population. The UK Committee on Toxicity concluded that the study provided supporting evidence suggesting that certain mixtures of these additives are associated with an increase in hyperactivity in children from the general population.

  Official position Committee on Toxicity (UK): Statement on research project T07040, September 2007

• EFSA reviewed the study in March 2008 and concluded that it provided limited evidence that the mixtures of additives had a small effect on the activity and attention of some children, and that the findings could not be used as a basis for changing the acceptable daily intakes.

  Official position European Food Safety Authority: EFSA evaluates Southampton study on food additives and child behaviour, 14 March 2008

• Since 20 July 2010, EU law has required food containing any of six colours to carry the statement “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children”. The six are tartrazine (E102), quinoline yellow (E104), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), ponceau 4R (E124) and allura red (E129).

  Law European Union: Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, Article 24 and Annex V, 16 December 2008

• The UK Food Standards Agency says research it funded found that consuming certain artificial food colours could cause increased hyperactivity in some children, and that it encourages manufacturers to work towards finding alternatives to these colours.

  Official position Food Standards Agency (UK): Food additives, 9 January 2018

• California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment reported in April 2021 that consuming synthetic food dyes can result in hyperactivity and other neurobehavioural problems in some children, and that FDA’s acceptable daily intakes, based on studies 35 to 70 years old, may not adequately protect children.

  Official position California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment: Report on synthetic food dyes: press release, 16 April 2021

• Of 25 challenge studies in children reviewed by scientists at California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, 16 (64%) found some evidence of an association between synthetic food dyes and behaviour, and 13 (52%) found a statistically significant one.

  Peer-reviewed study Environmental Health (authors from OEHHA and the University of California): Miller and others, Environmental Health 2022;21:45, 2022

• The FDA says the totality of scientific evidence indicates that most children have no adverse effects when consuming foods containing colour additives, but that some evidence suggests certain children may be sensitive to them.

  Official position US Food and Drug Administration: Color Additives Questions and Answers for Consumers, content current as of 14 December 2023

• About 1 in 9 US children aged 3 to 17 (11.4%, or 7.1 million) had ever been diagnosed with ADHD in 2022, a study led by CDC researchers found.

  Peer-reviewed study CDC researchers, Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology: Danielson and others, 2024, 2024

• CDC says the causes of ADHD are unknown. The possible risk factors it lists do not include diet or food additives.

  Official position Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: About Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), 30 July 2026

• MedlinePlus, the health encyclopedia of the US National Library of Medicine, says studies on artificial colourings and hyperactivity conflict and that the issue is yet to be decided.

  Official position MedlinePlus (US National Library of Medicine): Hyperactivity and sugar, reviewed 5 April 2025

• FDA announced on 15 January 2025 that it was revoking the authorisation of FD&C Red No. 3 in food and ingested drugs. Manufacturers have until 15 January 2027 to reformulate food and until 18 January 2028 for ingested drugs.

  Law US Food and Drug Administration: FDA to revoke authorization for the use of Red No. 3 in food and ingested drugs, 15 January 2025

• On 22 April 2025 HHS and FDA announced measures to phase out petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the US food supply, including working with industry to eliminate six of them (Green No. 3, Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5, Yellow No. 6, Blue No. 1 and Blue No. 2) by the end of the following year, 2026.

  Official position US Department of Health and Human Services: HHS, FDA to phase out petroleum-based synthetic dyes in nation’s food supply, 22 April 2025

• FDA’s public tracker of industry pledges to remove petroleum-based food dyes listed 31 pledges from 30 companies, retailers and trade associations when counted on 2 October 2026.

  Official data, counted by Etqa US Food and Drug Administration: Tracking food industry pledges to remove petroleum-based food dyes, content current as of 15 September 2026

• FDA revoked the listing of the dye Orange B in a final order published on 23 July 2026, with an effective date of 8 September 2026.

  Law US Food and Drug Administration: Federal Register document 2026-14910, 23 July 2026

• The California Food Safety Act bans brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben and Red Dye No. 3 in food sold in the state from 1 January 2027.

  Law California Legislature: Assembly Bill 418 (2023), signed 7 October 2023

• The California School Food Safety Act bars six dyes (Blue 1, Blue 2, Green 3, Red 40, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6) from food and drinks offered in the state’s public schools from 31 December 2027.

  Law California Legislature: Assembly Bill 2316 (2024), signed 28 September 2024

• West Virginia bans seven dyes (Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2 and Green 3) from school nutrition programme meals from 1 August 2025. From 1 January 2028 the same law treats food sold in the state as adulterated if it contains any of those dyes, BHA or propylparaben.

  Law West Virginia Legislature: House Bill 2354 (2025), passed 14 March 2025

• Texas Senate Bill 25 requires a warning label on foods that contain any of 44 listed ingredients. The requirement applies to food labels developed or copyrighted on or after 1 January 2027.

  Law Texas Legislature: Senate Bill 25 (2025), effective 1 September 2025

• EFSA concluded on 6 May 2021 that titanium dioxide (E171) can no longer be considered safe as a food additive, because a concern for genotoxicity could not be ruled out.

  Official position European Food Safety Authority: Titanium dioxide: E171 no longer considered safe when used as a food additive, 6 May 2021

• Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/63 of 14 January 2022 removed the authorisation of titanium dioxide (E171) as a food additive. Foods made under the old rules could be placed on the market until 7 August 2022.

  Law European Union: Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/63, 14 January 2022

• In the United States, titanium dioxide may be used to colour food at up to 1% by weight of the food.

  Law US Code of Federal Regulations: 21 CFR 73.575, eCFR, checked 2 October 2026

• FDA revoked the regulation allowing brominated vegetable oil in food. The rule took effect on 2 August 2024, with a compliance date one year later (2 August 2025).

  Law US Food and Drug Administration: FDA revokes regulation allowing the use of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) in food, 2 July 2024

• US rules allow potassium bromate in bromated flour at up to 50 parts per million.

  Law US Code of Federal Regulations: 21 CFR 137.155, eCFR, checked 2 October 2026

• FDA lists potassium bromate among the food chemicals under post-market review, at the review-of-information step; it has been on the list since 4 March 2024.

  Official position US Food and Drug Administration: List of Select Chemicals in the Food Supply Under FDA Review, content current as of 29 July 2026

• In England and Wales, potassium bromate was removed from the permitted bread and flour additives by regulations that came into force on 1 April 1990.

  Law UK legislation: The Potassium Bromate (Prohibition as a Flour Improver) Regulations 1990, 27 February 1990

• US rules allow azodicarbonamide in flour and bread at up to 45 parts per million by weight of the flour.

  Law US Code of Federal Regulations: 21 CFR 172.806, eCFR, checked 2 October 2026

• On 12 May 2026 FDA launched reassessments of the preservative BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) and of azodicarbonamide.

  Official position US Food and Drug Administration: FDA finalizes food chemical safety post-market assessment program, launches reassessment of BHT, ADA, 12 May 2026

• The US National Toxicology Program lists butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen”, based on evidence from studies in experimental animals.

  Official position National Toxicology Program (US National Institutes of Health): Report on Carcinogens, 15th edition: Butylated hydroxyanisole, 21 December 2021

• FDA launched a re-assessment of BHA on 10 February 2026.

  Official position US Food and Drug Administration: FDA launches assessment of BHA, a common food chemical preservative, 10 February 2026

• US labelling rules define “natural flavor” to include flavouring constituents derived from plant materials and also from meat, seafood, poultry, eggs and dairy products, and allow a label to declare them simply as “natural flavor” without naming the source; protein hydrolysates are an exception and must be declared by their specific name.

  Law US Code of Federal Regulations: 21 CFR 101.22, eCFR, checked 2 October 2026

• US rules exempt incidental additives, including processing aids, from the ingredient list when they are present at insignificant levels and have no technical or functional effect in the finished food.

  Law US Code of Federal Regulations: 21 CFR 101.100, eCFR, checked 2 October 2026

• EU law does not require the ingredient list to include processing aids, carriers used in strictly necessary quantities, or additives carried over from an ingredient that serve no function in the finished product. Allergens must still be declared.

  Law European Union: Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Article 20, 25 October 2011

• In the EU, a flavouring may be described as natural with a reference to its source only if at least 95% by weight of the flavouring component comes from that source.

  Law European Union: Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008, Article 16, 16 December 2008

• Since 5 January 2011, US rules have required foods that contain cochineal extract or carmine to declare the colour by name in the ingredient list.

  Law US Food and Drug Administration: Federal Register document E8-31253, 5 January 2009

• Class I
• Class II
• Class III

Data table

Fiscal year	Class I	Class II	Class III	Total
Fiscal year 2023	596	775	180	1,551
Fiscal year 2024	1,130	697	85	1,912
Fiscal year 2025	648	818	107	1,573

Source: openFDA food enforcement reports, counted by Etqa by classification date for each fiscal year; data updated 23 September 2026.

Data table

Reason	Recalls
Import violations	16
Undeclared allergens	15
Extraneous material	10
Produced without inspection	10
Listeria monocytogenes	5
Shiga toxin-producing E. coli	5
Processing deviations	3
Mislabelling	1

Source: USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Summary of Recall and PHA Cases in Calendar Year 2023, updated 28 February 2024.

• WHO estimates that 866 million people, almost 1 in 9 worldwide, fall ill after eating contaminated food and 1.52 million die every year.

  Official statistics World Health Organization: Food safety fact sheet, 4 June 2026

• Children under 5 carry 29% of the health burden from unsafe food, with 143,000 deaths in 2021, and unsafe food costs US$310 billion a year in lost productivity and medical expenses.

  Official statistics World Health Organization: Food safety fact sheet, 4 June 2026

• CDC estimates that each year 48 million people in the United States get sick from a foodborne illness, 128,000 are hospitalised and 3,000 die.

  Official statistics Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: About food safety, 9 March 2026

• FDA classified 1,573 recalled food products in fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025): 648 in Class I, 818 in Class II and 107 in Class III. The totals were 1,912 in fiscal year 2024 (1,130 in Class I, 697 in Class II and 85 in Class III) and 1,551 in fiscal year 2023 (596 in Class I, 775 in Class II and 180 in Class III).

  Official data, counted by Etqa US Food and Drug Administration, openFDA: Food enforcement reports (our count by classification date), data updated 23 September 2026

• USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service recorded 65 recalls covering 4,005,384 pounds of product in 2023. Of the 65, 58 were Class I.

  Official statistics USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: Summary of Recall and PHA Cases in Calendar Year 2023, updated 28 February 2024

• The reasons for the 65 recalls recorded by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service in 2023 were import violations (16), undeclared allergens (15), extraneous material (10), production without inspection (10), Listeria monocytogenes (5), Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (5), processing deviations (3) and mislabelling (1).

  Official statistics USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: Summary of Recall and PHA Cases in Calendar Year 2023, updated 28 February 2024

• FSIS defines a Class I recall as a health hazard situation with a reasonable probability that using the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death; Class II as one with a remote probability of adverse health consequences; and Class III as one where using the product will not cause adverse health consequences, or the risk is negligible.

  Official position USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: Understanding FSIS Food Recalls, updated 26 September 2024

• In the United States, FSIS regulates meat, poultry and egg products, and FDA regulates all other food products.

  Official position USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: Understanding FSIS Food Recalls, updated 26 September 2024

• FDA says milk is the most common cause of recalls due to undeclared allergens.

  Official position US Food and Drug Administration: Food Allergies, content current as of 11 March 2026

• The 2024 Listeria outbreak linked to meats sliced at delis sickened 61 people in 19 US states; 60 were hospitalised and 10 died, according to CDC.

  Official statistics Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Listeria outbreak linked to meats sliced at delis: investigation update, 30 January 2025

• Notifications through the EU’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed rose by 12% in 2024, to 5,250.

  Official statistics European Commission: Alert and Cooperation Network annual report 2024, 15 May 2025

• The UK Food Standards Agency was notified of 2,073 food and feed safety incidents in England, Northern Ireland and Wales in 2025/26, 14% more than the year before.

  Official statistics Food Standards Agency (UK): Incidents and resilience annual report 2025/26, 25 June 2026

• The Canadian Food Inspection Agency recorded 185 food recall incidents in fiscal year 2025–26: 73 microbiological, 57 involving allergens, 37 extraneous material, 12 chemical and 6 other.

  Official statistics Canadian Food Inspection Agency: Food recall incidents and food recalls, updated 13 August 2026

• In 2024, 6.7% of US adults had a diagnosed food allergy.

  Official statistics CDC National Center for Health Statistics: NCHS Data Brief No. 545, 8 January 2026

• In 2024, 5.3% of US children aged 0 to 17 had a diagnosed food allergy.

  Official statistics CDC National Center for Health Statistics: NCHS Data Brief No. 546, 8 January 2026

• US law recognises nine major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. Sesame became the ninth on 1 January 2023.

  Law US Food and Drug Administration: Food Allergies, content current as of 11 March 2026

• EU law lists 14 allergens that must be declared on food: cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, nuts, celery, mustard, sesame seeds, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, lupin and molluscs.

  Law European Union: Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex II, 25 October 2011

• In the United States, advisory statements such as “may contain” are not required by law. FDA says they should not be used as a substitute for current good manufacturing practices and must be truthful and not misleading.

  Official position US Food and Drug Administration: Food Allergies, content current as of 11 March 2026

• Nutri-Score was created by Santé publique France, the French public health agency, at the request of the French Ministry of Health. It gives a food one overall grade from A to E per 100 g or 100 ml, weighing nutrients and foods to encourage (fibre, protein, fruits, vegetables, legumes) against nutrients to limit (calories, saturated fat, sugars, salt and non-nutritive sweeteners). Producers display it on a voluntary basis.

  Official position Santé publique France: Nutri-Score, updated 6 November 2025

• Seven countries officially recommend Nutri-Score: France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

  Official position Santé publique France: Nutri-Score, updated 6 November 2025

• In France, 1,462 companies were registered in the Nutri-Score scheme in June 2025, and brands committed to it accounted for 63% of the sales volume of processed foods sold in supermarkets and specialist retail channels in 2025.

  Official statistics INRAE (Oqali, the French food observatory): Nutri-Score deployment report, 17 June 2026

• In a July 2025 survey for Santé publique France, 99% of respondents in France had seen or heard of Nutri-Score, and 68% said they take it into account often or sometimes when shopping.

  Official statistics Santé publique France: Nutri-Score survey results, 19 March 2026

• The European Court of Auditors reported in 2024 that the European Commission had promised to propose harmonised front-of-pack nutrition labelling by the end of 2022 but had not put a proposal forward.

  Official position European Court of Auditors: Special report 23/2024: Food labelling in the EU, 25 September 2024

• On 16 January 2025 FDA proposed requiring a front-of-package “Nutrition Info box” on most packaged foods, rating saturated fat, sodium and added sugars as Low, Med or High.

  Law US Food and Drug Administration: Food Labeling: Front-of-Package Nutrition Information (proposed rule), 16 January 2025

• NOVA sorts foods into four groups by the extent and purpose of processing: unprocessed or minimally processed foods, processed culinary ingredients, processed foods and ultra-processed foods. It was developed by researchers at the University of São Paulo, Brazil.

  Published by an intergovernmental body FAO (Monteiro and others): Ultra-processed foods, diet quality, and health using the NOVA classification system, 2019

• FDA and USDA described NOVA in July 2025 as the most common classification of foods by processing, while noting that there is no single, universally accepted definition of ultra-processed foods.

  Official position US Food and Drug Administration and US Department of Agriculture: Ultra-Processed Foods; Request for Information, 25 July 2025

• An E number is a number used in the European Union to identify permitted food additives. It means the additive has passed safety tests and has been approved for use.

  Official position European Food Safety Authority: Food additives, last reviewed 13 April 2026

• The Codex International Numbering System (INS) is a harmonised naming system for food additives. Inclusion in it does not imply approval by Codex.

  International standard Codex Alimentarius Commission (FAO/WHO): Class Names and the International Numbering System for Food Additives (CXG 36-1989), amended 2015

• The number of Muslims worldwide grew by 21% between 2010 and 2020, from 1.7 billion to 2.0 billion, according to Pew Research Center.

  Independent research Pew Research Center: Muslim population change, 2010–2020, 9 June 2025

• Muslims made up 25.6% of the world’s population in 2020 and were the fastest-growing religious group over the decade, increasing by 347 million people.

  Independent research Pew Research Center: How the global religious landscape changed from 2010 to 2020, 9 June 2025

• Europe had 46 million Muslims in 2020, about 6% of its population, according to Pew Research Center.

  Independent research Pew Research Center: Religion in Europe, 9 June 2025

• The Codex Alimentarius guidelines on the use of the term “halal”, adopted in 1997, define halal food as food permitted under Islamic law. They list as unlawful, among other things, pigs and boars, animals not slaughtered according to Islamic law, blood, alcoholic drinks, and food additives derived from those sources, and they accept that Islamic schools of thought may differ in their interpretation.

  International standard Codex Alimentarius Commission (FAO/WHO): General Guidelines for Use of the Term “Halal” (CAC/GL 24-1997), 1997

• SMIIC, the Standards and Metrology Institute for the Islamic Countries, announced on 9 August 2019 that it had published the 2019 edition of its halal food standard, OIC/SMIIC 1 “General Requirements for Halal Food”.

  International standard SMIIC: Revised OIC/SMIIC halal standards, 9 August 2019

• About 80% of the edible gelatine produced in Europe is made from pork skin, 15% from cattle hide split and the remaining 5% from pig and cattle bones and fish, according to the industry association Gelatine Manufacturers of Europe.

  Industry source Gelatine Manufacturers of Europe: Manufacturing, checked 2 October 2026

• EU food additive law states that edible gelatine is not considered a food additive.

  Law European Union: Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, Article 3, 16 December 2008

• The Codex International Numbering System lists gelatine as INS 428.

  International standard Codex Alimentarius Commission (FAO/WHO): Class Names and the International Numbering System for Food Additives (CXG 36-1989), amended 2015

• The halal food sector was worth US$1.53 trillion in 2024 and is projected to reach US$2.06 trillion by 2029, according to the State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2025/26 by the research firm DinarStandard.

  Industry estimate DinarStandard: State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2025/26, 2 June 2026

• Indonesia’s halal law requires products that enter, circulate and are traded in the country to be halal certified. The obligation took effect on 18 October 2024 for food and drink, their raw materials, additives and processing aids, and slaughter products and services made by medium and large businesses.

  Official position BPJPH, Indonesia’s Halal Product Assurance Organizing Agency: Kewajiban sertifikasi halal berlaku mulai 18 Oktober 2024, 18 October 2024

• Malaysia’s halal authority JAKIM recognised 96 foreign halal certification bodies in 49 countries or regions on its list effective 21 August 2026.

  Official statistics JAKIM, Department of Islamic Development Malaysia: Recognised foreign halal certification bodies and authorities, 21 August 2026

• Halal 13,897 (70.8%)
• Mashbooh 4,988 (25.4%)
• Haram 731 (3.7%)

• Halal
• Mashbooh
• Haram

Data table

Function	Names	Halal	Mashbooh	Haram
Enzyme	124	22	93	9
Emulsifier	709	283	415	11
Colour	467	208	248	11
Flavour enhancer	452	204	236	12
Stabiliser	673	345	322	6
Flavouring	756	460	266	30
Sequestrant	174	106	68	0
Thickener	403	279	123	1
Antioxidant	271	198	73	0
Anti-caking agent	260	191	69	0
Raising agent	150	114	36	0
Preservative	401	308	93	0
Acidity regulator	527	407	120	0
Firming agent	105	92	13	0
Sweetener	238	212	26	0

Source: Etqa ingredient database. In the database’s own reasons, the usual cause of a mashbooh label is a source that can be animal, plant or microbial.

• Etqa’s ingredient database classifies 19,616 ingredient names: 13,897 halal, 4,988 mashbooh and 731 haram.

  Etqa data Etqa ingredient database, 2 October 2026

• 2,417 names in the database carry an E-number, covering 406 codes. This site has a page for 20 common ones.

  Etqa data E-number pages, 2 October 2026

How these classifications are made, and their limits: Methodology.