An independent US and Europe reference
You came back from a trip abroad feeling better and wondered about the food. Some of that instinct is right, some of it is hype, and the difference is written in the regulation. We look it up, issue one plain verdict, and show you the source. No scores. No scares.
The Tool
We check it against 422 substances the EU bans or restricts (aliases, E-numbers, and CAS numbers included) and cite the regulation for every flag. Runs in your browser; nothing you paste leaves your device.
Check a labelPlain and simple: we don't hand out a score. A score is somebody's opinion dressed up as a number, and you can't check it. So for every ingredient we look up what the regulators on each side of the Atlantic actually decided, and we issue one of four verdicts. Then we show you the regulation behind it, so you never have to just take our word for it.
Europe doesn't allow it for this use, full stop. Our strongest verdict, and we only give it with the regulation attached.
Allowed in Europe, but with strings: a limit, a specific product, or a warning label. The strings are the whole story, so we spell them out.
Allowed on both sides of the Atlantic. Most ingredients are, and when the answer is boring, we say so.
The flip side, where America said no and Europe didn't. Rarer, but real. Red Dye 3 is the famous one.
In the EU these dyes are legal but require the children's-activity warning label, which is why European cereals use fruit and plant concentrates instead.
Since 2022 the EU limits homosalate to face products at 7.34%; the FDA allows 15% body-wide. Octocrylene is permitted at 10% in both, with EU scientists watching its benzophenone breakdown product.
The dyes carry the EU warning-label rule; TBHQ (E319) is permitted in the EU only in specific categories at capped levels.
Every exhibit states what the label discloses and what the regulation says about it, nothing more. How we assign statuses.
No: the EU never banned Red Dye 3 outright; it restricts erythrosine (E127) to cocktail and candied cherries, while the US went further and banned it from food entirely in January 2025.
Banned in EUYes: titanium dioxide (E171) has been banned as a food additive in the EU since February 2022, while the FDA still permits it in US food at up to 1% by weight.
Banned in EUYes: potassium bromate has been banned in EU food since 1990, while the FDA still permits it in US bread and flour at up to 75 parts per million.
Banned in EUYes: TPO, the photoinitiator that makes most gel nail polish cure under UV lamps, has been banned in EU cosmetics since September 1, 2025 as a category 1B reproductive toxicant. Great Britain followed on August 15, 2026 with a phased ban under SI 2026/23. It remains legal in US salons.
Restricted in EUNo: despite what most lists claim, Red Dye 40 is legal in the EU; products containing it must carry a warning that it "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children," which is why most European brands reformulated voluntarily.
Banned in EUYes: zinc pyrithione has been banned in EU cosmetics since March 2022 as a category 1B reproductive toxicant, while the FDA still allows it at up to 2% in US anti-dandruff shampoos.
Americans average 4,774 steps a day versus a global 5,000 and Hong Kong's 6,880. The gap tracks the built environment, not willpower. A calm look at car dependency and 'activity inequality.'
European and American chocolate taste different because the EU and FDA define chocolate differently, cap vegetable fats at 5%, and handle milk differently. A calibrated look, not a scare story.
The EU restricted kojic acid to 1% in face and hand products under Regulation (EU) 2024/996. It's a restriction, not a ban, and the number is looser than the SCCS's own advice. A calibrated look at the thyroid concern and what the US does instead.
Ireland's Supreme Court ruled Subway's bread isn't legally bread because its sugar runs five times over the limit. A calibrated look at why American bread is sweeter, what the law actually said, and how Europe defines a loaf.