Boiler water additives

This listing covers the chemicals allowed in boiler water where the steam contacts food. Steam is used directly on food often enough — to peel, to heat, to sterilise — that what goes into the boiler is regulated as a food additive.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Boiler water additives by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
JurisdictionStatusScope and limitsCitation
United StatesFood and Drug AdministrationPermitted, with conditions21 CFR 173.310retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFANot listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited.

What it is made from

A group of scale inhibitors, oxygen scavengers and pH adjusters, permitted with limits on what may carry over in the steam.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian

Every name it appears under

1 recorded name. A label may use any of them.

As it appears in regulation

  • Boiler water additives

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

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

Machine-readable:/api/v1/additives/boiler-water-additives.json