What is Bentonite used for in food?

It is listed as a thickener, a stabiliser and a flour treatment agent — the role the US assigns it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.

Is Bentonite banned in Europe?

No. Bentonite 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 Bentonite permitted?

Of the seven regulators this site reads, Australia and New Zealand, South Korea and the US permit it. Each permission is for named foods at named levels, not a blanket one; the table on this page gives them with citations.

Yes. Bentonite is not derived from animals, and is suitable for vegetarians. This page says what it is made from and how.

Bentonite

Q: What is E 558?

E 558 is Bentonite. Bentonite is a clay used to clarify wine, beer and juice: it binds haze-forming proteins and is then filtered out. It is a processing aid rather than an ingredient of the finished drink.

E number E558CAS 1302-78-9

Listed as a thickener, a stabiliser and a flour treatment agent by the US.

Listed as thickeners (US) · stabilisers (US) · flour treatment agents (US) · dough strengtheners (US) · oxidising and reducing agents (US) · processing aids (US)

United States: Stabilizer or thickener — FDA, Substances Added to Food: BENTONITE
United States: Stabilizer or thickener — FDA, Substances Added to Food: BENTONITE
United States: Flour treating agent — FDA, Substances Added to Food: BENTONITE
United States: Dough strengthener — FDA, Substances Added to Food: BENTONITE
United States: Oxidizing or reducing agent — FDA, Substances Added to Food: BENTONITE
United States: Processing aid — FDA, Substances Added to Food: BENTONITE
United States: Processing aids — 21 CFR 184.1155, citing 21 CFR 170.3(o)(24)

Bentonite is a clay used to clarify wine, beer and juice: it binds haze-forming proteins and is then filtered out. It is a processing aid rather than an ingredient of the finished drink.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Bentonite by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
Jurisdiction	Status	Scope and limits	Citation
Australia and New ZealandFood Standards Australia New Zealand	Permitted, 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 Canada	No listing matchedHealth Canada’s lists name additives without E or INS numbers, so this site matches them by exact name. A substance listed there under a name this site does not recognise has no row here.
European UnionEuropean Commission / EFSA	No 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 Scotland	No 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 Agency	No listing matchedThis site imports only Japan’s list of designated additives (Appended Table 1 to the Regulations for Enforcement of the Food Sanitation Act), matched by English name. Existing additives, natural flavouring agents and ordinary foods used as additives are permitted outside that list and are not imported, so an empty row does not show that Japan does not permit the substance.
South KoreaMinistry of Food and Drug Safety	Permitted, with conditions	Designated food additive: Standards and Specifications for Food Additives, Part III, 2. … Designated food additive: Standards and Specifications for Food Additives, Part III, 2. 가공보조제 (processing aids), 벤토나이트 (“Bentonite”, the English the Code prints beside it). Main use (주용도) of 벤토나이트: 여과보조제. Standard for use (사용기준) of 벤토나이트: (1) [may be used only for the purpose or in the food the sentence states; and a further sentence this site does not describe] “벤토나이트는 식품의 제조 또는 가공상 여과보조제(여과, 탈색, 탈취, 정제 등) 목적에 한하여 사용하여야 한다. 다만, 사용 시 최종식품 완성 전에 제거하여야 하며, 식품 중의 잔류량은 0.5%(규조토, 백도토, 벤토나이트, 산성백토, 탤크, 퍼라이트, 활성탄 등 다른 불용성광물성물질과 병용할 때에는 전 잔류량의 합계가 0.5%)이하이어야 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 Administration	Permitted		21 CFR 184.1155retrieved 2026-10-17
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFA	Not listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited.

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
South Korea	—	1 no quantity stated
United States	—	1 no quantity stated

No regulator sets a figure for Bentonite. That is not an absence of control: where the listing says quantum satis or good manufacturing practice, the quantity is limited to what the effect requires.

What it is made from

Mined volcanic clay, chiefly montmorillonite, then purified and milled. Unlike some other fining agents, such as gelatin or isinglass, it is mineral rather than animal-derived.

Vegan
Vegetarian

Compare other additives on the dietary indexes.

CAS registry number: 1302-78-9

Every name it appears under

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

E number

E558

CAS registry number

1302-78-9

As it appears in regulation

Bentonite

Other names

Bentonite
E 558

Systematic names

Dioxosilane; oxo(oxoalumanyloxy)alumane; hydrate

The EU re-evaluation programme

Every additive authorised in the EU before 20 January 2009 was put back through EFSA by Commission Regulation (EU) No 257/2010, and this one is named in it. What the Regulation required is below; whether the opinion has since been published is not something this site records.

To be evaluated by 31 December 2018. Named in Annex II, Part II, point 4 as “Bentonite”, among the additives given priority within its class.

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 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 E 558?: E 558 is Bentonite. Bentonite is a clay used to clarify wine, beer and juice: it binds haze-forming proteins and is then filtered out. It is a processing aid rather than an ingredient of the finished drink.
What is Bentonite used for in food?: It is listed as a thickener, a stabiliser and a flour treatment agent — the role the US assigns it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.
Is Bentonite banned in Europe?: No. Bentonite 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 Bentonite permitted?: Of the seven regulators this site reads, Australia and New Zealand, South Korea and the US 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 Bentonite vegan?: Yes. Bentonite 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
kr retrieved 2026-10-18
ecfr retrieved 2026-10-17

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

Machine-readable: a JSON record of this additive is given on request —how to ask for access.

Follow changes to Bentonite:Atom feed — regulatory events, and any change the weekly refresh detects in its provisions.