Agar

E number E406INS 406CAS 9002-18-0

Used as an emulsifier — Codex also lists it as bulking agent, carrier, gelling, agent, glazing agent, humectant, stabilizer, thickener.

Agar is a gelling agent from red seaweed and the usual vegetarian substitute for gelatin. It sets firmly, melts at a much higher temperature than gelatin, and is used in confectionery, desserts and canned meats.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Agar by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
JurisdictionStatusScope and limitsCitation
United StatesFood and Drug AdministrationNot listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited.
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFAPermitted, with conditions

23 food categories

no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice)

Show every food category
  • 01.2.1.1 Fermented milks (plain), not heat-treated after fermentation — GMP
  • 01.2.1.2 Fermented milks (plain), heat-treated after fermentation — GMP
  • 01.2.2 Renneted milk (plain) — GMP
  • 01.4.1 Pasteurized cream (plain) — GMP
  • 01.4.2 Sterilized and UHT creams, whipping and whipped creams, and reduced fat creams (plain) — GMP
  • 04.1.1.2 Surface-treated fresh fruit — GMP
  • 04.2.1.2 Surface-treated fresh vegetables, (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweeds and nuts and seeds — GMP
  • 06.4.1 Fresh pastas and noodles and like products — GMP
  • 06.4.2 Dried pastas and noodles and like products — GMP
  • 08.1.1 Fresh meat, poultry and game, whole pieces or cuts — GMP
  • 08.1.2 Fresh meat, poultry and game, comminuted — GMP
  • 09.2.1 Frozen fish, fish fillets, and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 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
  • 09.2.4.1 Cooked fish and fish products — GMP
  • 09.2.4.2 Cooked molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 09.2.4.3 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
  • 11.4 Other sugars and syrups (e.g. xylose, maple syrup, sugar toppings) — GMP
  • 12.1.2 Salt substitutes — GMP
  • 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 406and 23 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Extracted with hot water from red seaweeds, chiefly Gelidium and Gracilaria species, then frozen or pressed to remove water and dried. No animal material is involved, which is the point of it.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
CAS registry number
9002-18-0
InChIKey
GYYDPBCUIJTIBM-DYOGSRDZSA-N
PubChem
CID 71571511

Every name it appears under

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

E number

  • E406

INS number

  • 406

CAS registry number

  • 9002-18-0

Other names

  • 3PBT7NM2M0
  • 89T13OHQ2B
  • AGAR
  • Agar (Gelidium spp.)
  • AGAR (GRACILARIA CONFERVOIDES)
  • AGAR (GRACILARIA GRACILIS)
  • Agar agar flake
  • Agar powder
  • Agar, pure, powder Bacteriology and molecular biology grade
  • Agar, unspecified
  • Agargel
  • Agaropectin, mixt with agarose
  • Agarose, mixt with agaropectin
  • Bengal
  • Bengal gelatin
  • Bengal isinglass
  • Bengalgelatin
  • Ceylon
  • Ceylon isinglass
  • Chinese gelatin
  • Chinese isinglass
  • Difco bacto agar
  • Digenea simplex mucilage
  • E 406
  • FEMA No. 2012
  • GAM medium
  • Gelose
  • GYYDPBCUIJTIBM-DYOGSRDZSA-N
  • INS NO.406
  • INS-406
  • Isinglass, japanese
  • Japan agar
  • Japan isinglass
  • Japanese gelatin
  • Kanten, Bengal, Ceylon, Chinese or Japanese isinglass
  • Kantenmatsu
  • Layor Carang
  • LPT5H1B7X5
  • Macassar gelatin
  • macassar gum
  • Oxoid III
  • Oxoid L 11
  • Phytagar
  • S 100 (polysaccharide)
  • Seaweed,agar,dried
  • Seaweed,agar,raw
  • Vegetable gelatin

Systematic names

  • (2R,3S,4S,5R)-2-(hydroxymethyl)-6-[[(4R,5S)-4-hydroxy-3-methyl-2,6-dioxabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-8-yl]oxy]-4-methoxy-tetrahydropyran-3,5-diol
  • (2R,3S,4S,5R)-2-(hydroxymethyl)-6-[[(4R,5S)-4-hydroxy-3-methyl-2,6-dioxabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-8-yl]oxy]-4-methoxyoxane-3,5-diol

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

  • 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/agar.json