0% of scanned US grocery products contain ingredients banned or restricted overseas

The sample is every scored product in the BannedPantry database (0 products) — user scans plus an initially seeded catalog of common US grocery and personal-care items. It is a convenience sample, not a random sample of US store shelves: users often scan products they already suspect, which can skew the flagged share upward versus a true shelf census. Every product is scored by the same pipeline (re-checked daily), and the study re-computes as new scans arrive.

A product is rated AVOID or CAUTION when its ingredient label (from Open Food Facts, Open Beauty Facts, or USDA FoodData Central) contains an additive that is banned, restricted, or warning-labeled by the EU, UK, Canada, Japan, or California. Every flag carries a primary-source citation (EFSA, FDA, Health Canada, MHLW, OEHHA) on its ingredient page. Ratings are never influenced by brands.