Ammonium chloride

CAS 12125-02-9

Listed as a raising agent, a flavour enhancer and a flour treatment agent by the US and Codex.

Listed as raising agents (US) · flavour enhancers (US) · flour treatment agents (Codex) · dough strengtheners (US) · flavouring agents and adjuvants (US) · yeast foods (CA) · processing aids (US)
Chemical structure of Ammonium chloride, from PubChem compound 25517
Structure from PubChem CID 25517 (National Library of Medicine, public domain). A depiction of one compound: where a listing covers a family, or a substance has no single structure, this page shows none.

Ammonium chloride is a yeast nutrient and dough conditioner, and the ingredient that gives salty liquorice its distinctive sharp taste in Nordic confectionery.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Ammonium chloride by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
JurisdictionStatusScope and limitsCitation
Australia and New ZealandFood Standards Australia New ZealandPermitted, with conditions

54 food categories

no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice)

Show every food category
  • 0 Preparations of food additives — GMP
  • 1.1.1 Liquid milk (including buttermilk) — GMPOnly UHT goats milk.
  • 1.1.2 Liquid milk products and flavoured liquid milk — GMP
  • 1.2.2 Fermented milk products and rennetted milk products — GMP
  • 1.3 Condensed milk and evaporated milk — GMP
  • 1.4.1 Cream, reduced cream and light cream — GMPOnly UHT creams and creams receiving equivalent or greater heat treatments.
  • 1.4.2 Cream products (flavoured, whipped, thickened, sour cream etc) — GMP
  • 1.5 Dried milk, milk powder, cream powder — GMP
  • 1.6 Cheese and cheese products — GMP
  • 10.2 Liquid egg products — GMP
  • 10.3 Frozen egg products — GMP
  • 10.4 Dried or heat coagulated egg products — GMP
  • 11.1.1 Rainbow sugar — GMP
  • 11.3.1 Dried honey — GMP
  • 11.4 Tabletop sweeteners — GMP
  • 12.1.2 Reduced sodium salt mixture — GMP
  • 12.1.3 Salt substitute — GMP
  • 12.5 Yeast and yeast products — GMP
  • 12.6 Vegetable protein products — GMP
  • 13.3 Formulated meal replacements and formulated supplementary foods — GMP
  • 13.4 Formulated supplementary sports foods — GMP
  • 13.5 Food for special medical purposes — GMP
  • 14.1.1.2 Carbonated, mineralised and soda waters — GMP
  • 14.1.2.1 Fruit and vegetable juices — GMPFor juice separated by other than mechanical means only.
  • 14.1.2.2 Fruit and vegetable juice products — GMP
  • 14.1.3 Water based flavoured drinks — GMP
  • 14.1.4 Formulated Beverages — GMP
  • 14.1.5 Coffee, coffee substitutes, tea, herbal infusions and similar products — GMP
  • 14.2.3 Wine based drinks and reduced alcohol wines — GMP
  • 14.2.4.1 Fruit wine products and vegetable wine products — GMP
  • 14.2.5 Spirits and liqueurs — GMP
  • 14.3 Alcoholic beverages not included in item 14.2 — GMP
  • 2.1 Edible oils essentially free of water — GMP
  • 2.2.1.2 Butter products — GMP
  • 2.2.1.3 Margarine and similar products — GMP
  • 2.2.2 Oil emulsions (<80% oil) — GMP
  • 20 Foods not included in items 0 to 14 — GMP
  • 3 Ice cream and edible ices — GMP
  • 4.1.3 Fruits and vegetables that are peeled, cut, or both peeled and cut — GMP
  • 4.3 Processed fruits and vegetables — GMP
  • 5.1 Chocolate and cocoa products — GMP
  • 5.2 Sugar confectionery — GMP
  • 5.4 Icings and frostings — GMP
  • 6.3 Processed cereal and meal products — GMP
  • 6.4 Flour products (including noodles and pasta) — GMP
  • 7 Breads and bakery products — GMP
  • 8.2 Processed meat, poultry and game products in whole cuts or pieces — GMP
  • 8.3 Processed comminuted meat, poultry and game products, other than products listed in item 8.3.2 — GMP
  • 8.3.2 Sausage and sausage meat containing raw, unprocessed meat — GMP
  • 8.4 Edible casings — GMP
  • 8.5 Animal protein products — GMP
  • 9.2 Processed fish and fish products — GMP
  • 9.3 Semi preserved fish and fish products — GMP
  • 9.4 Fully preserved fish including canned fish products — GMP
Food Standards Code, Schedule 15, S15—5and 53 further provisionsretrieved 2026-10-17
CanadaHealth CanadaPermitted, with conditions

highest permitted level 2,000 mg/kg

3 permitted uses

Show every permitted use
  • In: Bread. Purpose: Yeast food. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 2,500 ppm of the flour. If used in any combination with other yeast foods, the total combined amount not to exceed 2,500 ppm of the flour. This total combined amount does not include calcium phosphate, monobasic and calcium sulphate that may be added up to their respective maximum levels of use set out in this list. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Yeast Foods (List 14), item A.1(a)
  • In: Unstandardized foods. Purpose: Yeast food. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Yeast Foods (List 14), item A.1(b)
  • In: White flour; Whole wheat flour. Purpose: Yeast food. Limit: 2,000 ppm. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Yeast Foods (List 14), item A.1(c)
Health Canada, List of Permitted Yeast Foods (List 14)and 2 further provisionsretrieved 2026-10-17
European UnionEuropean Commission / EFSANo listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it.
Great BritainFood Standards Agency / Food Standards ScotlandNo listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it.
JapanConsumer Affairs AgencyPermitted, with conditions
Designated additive: Appended Table 1, item 85, 塩化アンモニウム (“Ammonium Chloride” in the unofficial English translation). …

Designated additive: Appended Table 1, item 85, 塩化アンモニウム (“Ammonium Chloride” in the unofficial English translation). Standards for use — Specifications and Standards for Foods, Food Additives, etc. (MHW Notification No. 370 of 1959), Part II (Food Additives), F (Standards for use): The Notification sets no standard for use (使用基準) for this additive, so it is not restricted there to particular foods or amounts. Compositional specifications for this additive, in the same Notification, are not imported and are not shown here; nor are the general rules in F 添加物一般, which apply to every additive.

Regulations for Enforcement of the Food Sanitation Act (MHW Ordinance No. 23 of 1948), Appended Table 1retrieved 2026-10-18
South KoreaMinistry of Food and Drug SafetyPermitted, with conditions
Designated food additive: Standards and Specifications for Food Additives, Part III, 1. …

Designated food additive: Standards and Specifications for Food Additives, Part III, 1. 일반식품첨가물 (general food additives), 염화암모늄 (“Ammonium Chloride”, the English the Code prints beside it). Main use (주용도) of 염화암모늄: 팽창제. Standard for use (사용기준) of 염화암모늄: (1) [to be used under the general standard for use in II. 2. 1), the minimum amount that achieves the technical effect, with no limit set for this additive in particular] “II. 2. 1)의 규정에 따라 사용하여야 한다.” The Korean is the standard as published. There is no official English translation of the current Code (the English version on MFDS’s website is the 2020 edition and has no legal effect); the English in square brackets is this site’s description of what each sentence does, not a translation of the foods or the levels. Compositional specifications (Part IV) are not imported, nor are the general standards in Part II, which apply to every additive.

Standards and Specifications for Food Additives (식품첨가물의 기준 및 규격), MFDS Notification, Part III (Standards for use, by item)retrieved 2026-10-18
United StatesFood and Drug AdministrationPermitted21 CFR 184.1138retrieved 2026-10-17
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFAPermitted

no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice)

CXS 192-1995 Table Three, INS 510retrieved 2026-09-07

How much is permitted

A listing usually limits the quantity as well as the food. Only one of the forms that takes is a figure: quantum satis and good manufacturing practice permit the amount the technological effect requires and no more, which is a limit rather than the absence of one. Figures below are the range across every food category this page is listed in, and categories differ between regulators — see how much is permitted.

Australia and New Zealand—54 GMP
Canada2,000 mg/kg1 numeric limit, 1 GMP, 1 no quantity stated
Japan—1 no quantity stated
South Korea—1 no quantity stated
United States—1 no quantity stated
Codex Alimentarius—1 GMP

What it is made from

Manufactured as a by-product of the Solvay soda process or by neutralising hydrochloric acid with ammonia.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian

Compare other additives on the dietary indexes.

CAS registry number
12125-02-9
InChIKey
NLXLAEXVIDQMFP-UHFFFAOYSA-N
PubChem
CID 25517

How JECFA defines it

The international specification for identity and purity, prepared by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives and published by FAO. It is a different document from any above, written by a different body and revised on its own cycle; it is advisory, and a country adopts it or does not.

INS 510 Ammonium Chloride

Synonyms: Ammonium muriate; Sal ammoniac

Assay, identification and purity criteria

Description and assay

Specification history
Prepared at the 23rd JECFA (1979), published in FNP 12 (1979) and in FNP 52 (1992). Metals and arsenic specifications revised at the 63rd JECFA (2004). An ADI 'not limited' was established at the 23rd JECFA (1979)
SYNONYMS DEFINITION Chemical names C.A.S. number Chemical formula Formula weight Assay DESCRIPTION
Sal ammoniac, ammonium muriate, INS No. 510 Ammonium chloride 12125-02-9 NH 4 Cl 53.50 Not less than 99.0% on the dried basis Colourless crystals, or a white, fine or coarse, crystalline powder; somewhat hygroscopic
FUNCTIONAL USES Solubility pH (Vol. 4) Test for ammonium (Vol. 4) Test for chloride (Vol. 4) Loss on drying (Vol. 4) Sulfated ash (Vol. 4)
Dough conditioner, yeast food Freely soluble in water, sparingly soluble in ethanol 4.5 - 6.0 (1 in 20 soln) Passes test Passes test Not more than 2.0% (over silica gel, 4 h) Not more than 0.5% Test 2 g of the sample (Method I)
METHOD OF ASSAY
Dry about 0.2 g of the sample over silica gel for 4 h, weigh accurately, and dissolve it in about 40 ml of water in a glass-stoppered flask. Add, while agitating, 3 ml of nitric acid, 5 ml of nitrobenzene, 50.0 ml of 0.1 N silver nitrate, shake vigorously, then add 2 ml of ferric ammonium sulfate TS, and titrate the excess silver nitrate with 0.1 N ammonium thiocyanate. Each ml of 0.1 N silver nitrate is equivalent to 5.349 mg of NH 4 Cl.

Purity criteria

Lead (Vol. 4)
Not more than 2 mg/kg Determine using an atomic absorption technique appropriate to the specified level. The selection of sample size and method of sample preparation may be based on the principles of the method described in Volume 4, “Instrumental Methods.”

FAO JECFA Monograph 1 (2006)

Every name it appears under

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

E number

  • E510

CAS registry number

  • 12125-02-9

As it appears in regulation

  • Ammonium chloride

Other names

  • Amchlor
  • Ammon Chlor
  • Ammonchlor
  • Ammoneric
  • Ammoniac, Sal
  • Ammonii Chloridum
  • Ammonium Chloratum
  • ammonium chlorid
  • Ammonium chloride
  • Ammonium chloride ((NH4)Cl)
  • Ammonium chloride 0.9% in normal saline
  • Ammonium chloride 2.14%
  • Ammonium chloride fume
  • Ammonium chloride in plastic container
  • Ammonium Chloride Injection
  • Ammonium Chloride Tablets
  • ammonium choride
  • ammonium cloride
  • Ammonium muriate
  • Ammonium muriate fume
  • Ammonium muriaticum
  • Ammonium-15N chloride
  • ammonium-chloride
  • Ammoniumchlorid
  • ammoniumchloride
  • Ammoniumklorid
  • ammoniurn chloride
  • Amoklor
  • amonium chloride
  • amrnonium chloride
  • azanium chloride
  • Catalyst rd
  • CCRIS 7262
  • Chlorammonic
  • Chlorammonic (France)
  • Chloramon
  • Chlorid ammonia
  • Chlorid amonny
  • Chloride, Ammonium
  • Cloruro de Amonio
  • COLDS COUGHS
  • Darammon
  • Dytuss
  • Elektrolyt
  • FEMA NO. 4494
  • Gen-Diur (Spain)
  • HSDB 483
  • Ins no.510
  • Ins-510
  • Muriate of Ammonia
  • Sal ammonia
  • Sal ammoniac
  • Sal ammoniac fume
  • Salammoniacus
  • Salammonite
  • Salmiac
  • Tussi ammon co
  • Yep wake the faith up Ammonia inhalant

Systematic names

  • ammonium chloride

Hazard reference values

Values set by assessing bodies. A body that has not set a value is not listed here.
TypeValuePopulationAssessed byOpinion
ADInot limited—JECFA1979

Evidence and how bodies read it

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

Common questions

Assembled from what is above, in the words the questions are usually asked in. Each answer is the same statement the relevant section makes, with the same citations behind it.

What is Ammonium chloride?
Ammonium chloride is a yeast nutrient and dough conditioner, and the ingredient that gives salty liquorice its distinctive sharp taste in Nordic confectionery.
What is Ammonium chloride used for in food?
It is listed as a raising agent, a flavour enhancer and a flour treatment agent — the role the US and Codex assign it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.
Is Ammonium chloride banned in Europe?
No. Ammonium chloride does not appear on the EU's list of authorised food additives, which is not the same as being banned: the EU permits an additive only where it has authorised it, and usually the reason for an absence is that no one applied. The EU has made no finding against this substance. It does mean it may not be used as a food additive in the EU today.
Where is Ammonium chloride permitted?
Of the seven regulators this site reads, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, Japan, South Korea, the US and the Codex standard permit it. Each permission is for named foods at named levels, not a blanket one; the table on this page gives them with citations.
Is Ammonium chloride vegan?
Yes. Ammonium chloride is not derived from animals, and is suitable for vegetarians. This page says what it is made from and how.

Sources for this page

  • anz retrieved 2026-10-17
  • ca retrieved 2026-10-17
  • jp retrieved 2026-10-18
  • kr retrieved 2026-10-18
  • ecfr retrieved 2026-10-17
  • gsfa retrieved 2026-09-07
  • jecfaspecs retrieved 2026-09-23

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

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