Pepperoni
What the research shows
Not enough
published research on this page yet
What research says
Found in some samples or products
These come from where it was grown, how it was processed or cooked, or what it was made into. They are not about the ingredient itself, so the signal does not count them.
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Food poisoning bacteria3
Listeria on sliced pepperoni died off during storage, and none was found after 60 days.
The signal at the top counts the findings in people and in animal and lab studies. A concern in studies of people outranks animal and lab studies, and “No concerns” needs at least one finding in people. When most findings in people point one way, the page leans that way (“Mostly”), and every finding is still shown. Findings whose study type is not stated are shown but not counted. This page is a reference, not medical advice. It describes what regulators and published research say. Talk to a doctor or dietitian about your own diet.
What expert reviews concluded
Expert panels that weigh all the research. Shown for context: the signal at the top does not count them. IARC rates whether something can cause cancer at all, not how likely it is at the amounts in food.
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WHO cancer agency (IARC), 2015
For processed meat: causes cancer in people (Group 1).
Products
The 6 most-scanned of 1,104 products on Open Food Facts that list pepperoni.
- Goodfellas Thin Pizza Pepperoni 332g Goodfella's · 332 g 4 additives
- american pepperoni PIZZA EXPRESS · 250 g 5 additives
- Pepperoni Stone baked Thin Goodfellas 4 additives
- Stonebaked Pepperoni Hand Stretched Pizza Sainsbury's 3 additives
- "THE AMERICAN" PEPPERONI TESCO 5 additives
- Supreme Cauliflower Crust Pizza Kirkland Signature 5 additives
References
- 1pepperoni: ingredient taxonomy entry. Open Food Facts.
- 2Pepperoni. Wikipedia. Accessed September 30, 2026. CC BY-SA 4.0.
- 3Byelashov OA, Carlson BA, Geornaras I, Kendall PA, Scanga JA, Sofos JN. Fate of post-processing inoculated Listeria monocytogenes on vacuum-packaged pepperoni stored at 4, 12 or 25 degrees C. Food Microbiol. 2009;26(1):77-81. doi:10.1016/j.fm.2008.08.008