Acetic acid

E number E260INS 260CAS 64-19-7

Used as a preservative — Codex also lists it as acidity regulator.

Acetic acid is the acid of vinegar, used as an acidity regulator and preservative in pickles, sauces, dressings and bread. Glacial acetic acid is the concentrated form handled by manufacturers rather than sold as vinegar.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Acetic acid by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
JurisdictionStatusScope and limitsCitation
United StatesFood and Drug AdministrationPermitted21 CFR 184.1005retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFAPermitted, with conditions

13 food categories

highest permitted level 5,000 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 01.6.6 Whey protein cheese — GMP
  • 04.2.1.1 Untreated fresh vegetables, (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes (including soybeans), and aloe vera), seaweeds and nuts and seeds — GMP
  • 04.2.2.1 Frozen vegetables (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweeds and nuts and seeds — GMP
  • 04.2.2.7 Fermented vegetable (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera) and seaweed products, excluding fermented soybean products of food categories 06.8.6, 06.8.7, 12.9.1, — GMP
  • 09.2.2 Frozen battered fish, fish fillets and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 09.2.3 Frozen minced and creamed fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 09.2.4 Cooked and/or fried fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 09.2.5 Smoked, dried, fermented, and/or salted fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 10.2.1 Liquid egg products — GMP
  • 10.2.2 Frozen egg products — GMP
  • 12.1.2 Salt substitutes — GMP
  • 13.2 Complementary foods for infants and young children — 5,000 mg/kg
  • 14.1.5 Coffee, coffee substitutes, tea, herbal infusions, and other hot cereal and grain beverages, excluding cocoa — GMP
CXS 192-1995 Table Three, INS 260and 13 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Produced industrially by carbonylating methanol, and by fermentation where vinegar is wanted rather than the pure acid. The synthetic and fermented routes give the same molecule but are labelled differently, and only the fermented route may be called vinegar.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
CAS registry number
64-19-7
InChIKey
QTBSBXVTEAMEQO-UHFFFAOYSA-N
PubChem
CID 176

Every name it appears under

64 recorded names. A label may use any of them.

E number

  • E260

INS number

  • 260

CAS registry number

  • 64-19-7

As it appears in regulation

  • Acetic acid

Other names

  • Acetasol
  • Acetic acid-2-13C,d4
  • Acetic acid
  • Acetic acid (aqueous)
  • Acetic acid (natural)
  • Acetic acid 0.25% in plastic container
  • Acetic acid glacial
  • Acetic acid, diluted
  • acetic acid-
  • Acetic-13C2 acid (8CI,9CI)
  • Aceticum acidum
  • Acetopyrine
  • Aci-jel
  • Acide acetique
  • Acido acetico
  • Acidum aceticum
  • Acidum aceticum glaciale
  • AcOH
  • Acopyrine
  • Azetat
  • Azijnzuur
  • BRN 0506007
  • Caswell No. 003
  • CH3-COO(-)
  • CH3-COOH
  • CH3COOH
  • DYSPEPSIA FATIGUE
  • E 260
  • Earcalm
  • EPA Pesticide Chemical Code 044001
  • Essigsaeure
  • Ethanoat
  • ethanoate
  • ethanoic acid
  • Ethanoic acid monomer
  • ethoic acid
  • ethylic acid
  • FEMA No. 2006
  • FUNGAL NAIL REPAIR
  • Glacial acetic acid
  • Glacial acetic acid (pure compound)
  • HOAc
  • hydron;acetate
  • INS NO.260
  • INS-260
  • Kyselina octova
  • MeCO2 anion
  • MeCOOH
  • methane carboxylic acid
  • Methanecarboxylic acid
  • New CleanFlex
  • Octowy kwas
  • Orlex
  • Orthoacetic acid
  • Otic Domeboro
  • Otic Tridesilon
  • Shotgun
  • vinegar
  • Vinegar acid

Systematic names

  • Acetic acid

Hazard reference values

No reference value for this substance in the sources we hold.

Evidence and how bodies read it

Studies, and the differing conclusions regulators drew from them, are curated by hand rather than machine-read, and none has been written for this substance yet.

Sources for this page

  • ecfr retrieved 2026-09-07
  • gsfa retrieved 2026-09-07

Full licence terms and publisher details on Sources. How this page is built and updated: Method.

Machine-readable:/api/v1/additives/acetic-acid.json