Ammonium carbonate

INS 503(i)CAS 8000-73-5

Used as an acidity regulator — Codex also lists it as raising agent.

Ammonium carbonate is a raising agent, the baker's ammonia of old recipes. It works without acid and leaves no residue, so it is still used for thin, crisp biscuits — but only for those, because in a moist cake the ammonia cannot escape and the taste stays.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Ammonium carbonate 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 184.1137retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFAPermitted, with conditions

3 food categories

no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice)

Show every food category
  • 01.2.1.2 Fermented milks (plain), heat-treated after fermentation — GMP
  • 09.2.2 Frozen battered fish, fish fillets and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 13.2 Complementary foods for infants and young children — GMP
CXS 192-1995 Table Three, INS 503(i)and 3 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Produced by reacting ammonia with carbon dioxide. It decomposes on heating to ammonia, carbon dioxide and water, all of which leave a thin biscuit as gas.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
CAS registry number
8000-73-5
InChIKey
YNSUIDWLZCFLML-UHFFFAOYSA-N
PubChem
CID 24660

Every name it appears under

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

INS number

  • 503(i)

CAS registry number

  • 8000-73-5

As it appears in regulation

  • Ammonium carbonate

Other names

  • Ammonium bicarbonate - ammonium carbamate
  • Ammonium bicarbonate-ammonium carbamate
  • Ammonium carbamate hydrogen carbonate (2/1/1)
  • Ammonium carbamate, mixt. with ammonium bicarbonate
  • Ammonium carbonate (NF)
  • Ammonium carbonate [NF]
  • Carbamic acid, monoammonium salt, mixt. with ammonium carbonate
  • Carbonic acid, ammonium salt (1:1), mixt. with ammonium carbamate (1:1)
  • Carbonic acid, monoammonium salt, mixt. with ammonium carbamate
  • diazanium;hydrogen carbonate;carbamate
  • Kohlensaures Ammonium Carbaminsaures Ammonium
  • UGAM

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/ammonium-carbonate.json