Food Safety Score Methodology

The GreenChoice Food Safety Score is a combination of scores from two subsystems: Additives and Pesticides. Combined, these scores evaluate the potential health risk a product poses based on the presence of additives, potential pesticide exposure, and the degree of risk the type of additive and/or pesticide poses to human health. 

• 100 – Very minimal concern

• 75 – 99 Minimal concern

• 50 – 74 Moderate concern

• 25 – 49 Significant concern

• 0 – 24 Most significant concern

The Food Safety Score is one of four science-based food scores that evaluate foods' nutritional density, ingredient processing, ingredient safety, and climate footprint and combine to make the food GreenScore®.

Food Safety Scoring Factors

Food Additives Scoring

According to WHO, food additives are defined as “substances added to food to maintain or improve the safety, freshness, taste, texture, or appearance of food.”4 Examples include preservatives, flavoring agents, sweeteners, colors, emulsifiers, thickening agents, and other additives. Due to their extensive use in food products, the potential health risks additives pose are factored into the GS-Food Safety Score. 

In order to assess the risk of additives and assign scores, we largely rely on data provided by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). JECFA is a credible, independent scientific committee that has conducted thorough risk assessments on more than 2600 additives. These assessments are based on a comprehensive range of data, including toxicology, biochemical, animal studies, and, when available, human studies. Using this information, the committee determines an acceptable daily intake (ADI) for each additive. The ADI represents the estimated amount of an additive that can be consumed daily without any harm, even when considering long-term exposure. Additionally, concerns posed by other organizations such as Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and the European Food Safety Authority are also considered in our risk evaluations and scoring.

Based on the negative health effects each additive may cause, we classify the toxic additives into four levels: additives with a confirmed health concern, suspected carcinogens or suspected genotoxic additives, additives whose health effects are yet to be determined, and additives of no health concern. The four levels contribute to the base of our scoring system. 

Using a proprietary algorithm, we determine the specific additives present in a product's ingredient list and assess the potential health risks associated with each one. A score ranging from 0 to 100 is assigned to each product based on the extent of these risks. Higher deductions are made for additives with substantial evidence of negative impacts on health, as well as those that have been prohibited by regulatory authorities in the EU, UK, Canada, Japan, or Australia. Additionally, deductions are applied to additives lacking reliable safety data.

Food Pesticides Scoring

Pesticides are extensively used in agriculture to ward off pests like insects, rodents, weeds, bacteria, mold, and fungi, ultimately increasing crop yields. These chemicals have varying levels of toxicity and can potentially pose health risks depending on the degree of exposure. 

The GS-Food Safety score considers estimated pesticide exposure from both commodity items (i.e. fruits, vegetables, grains, and other crops) and the potential pesticide exposure from processed foods containing these foods as ingredients. We evaluate estimated pesticide exposure using data derived from the USDA’s  Pesticide Data Program (PDP), which provides annual testing for pesticide residues found on thousands of samples of commodities.

To determine the minimum and maximum possible score for products, commodities are assigned to one of five categories, based on the proportion of contaminated samples out of total samples tested over a period of 12 years. 

Additionally, the score takes into consideration the degree of health risk associated with each type of pesticide using data from WHO and the Canadian Centre for Occupational health and Safety (CCHOHS). Together these data sources provide us with toxicity classification and LD50 values, which quantify how harmful different pesticides can be to one's health, based on concentration.

Predominant Data Sources

1. Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. Evaluations of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) Searchable Database. June 2022. Available at https://apps.who.int/food-additives-contaminants-jecfa-database/. 

2. U.S. Department of Agriculture. Pesticide Data Program, PDP Database. Available at https://apps.ams.usda.gov/pdp/. 

3. World Health Organization. The WHO Recommended Classification of Pesticides by Hazard and Guidelines to Classification. 2019. Available at https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240005662. 

4. Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCHOHS). https://www.ccohs.ca/