What is Bromelain used for in food?

It is listed as a flavour enhancer — the role Codex and the US assign it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.

Is Bromelain banned in Europe?

No. Bromelain 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 Bromelain permitted?

Of the seven regulators this site reads, 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.

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

Bromelain

INS 1101(iii)CAS 9001-00-7

Listed as a flavour enhancer by Codex and the US.

Listed as flavour enhancers (US, Codex) · stabilisers (Codex) · flour treatment agents (Codex) · enzymes (US) · flavouring agents and adjuvants (US) · texturisers (US) · processing aids (US)

United States: Flavor enhancer — FDA, Substances Added to Food: BROMELAIN
Codex Alimentarius: Flavour enhancer — CXS 192-1995 Table One, INS 1101(iii)
Codex Alimentarius: Stabilizer — CXS 192-1995 Table One, INS 1101(iii)
Codex Alimentarius: Flour treatment agent — CXS 192-1995 Table One, INS 1101(iii)
United States: Enzyme — FDA, Substances Added to Food: BROMELAIN
United States: Enzymes — 21 CFR 184.1024, citing 21 CFR 170.3(o)(9)
United States: Flavoring agent or adjuvant — FDA, Substances Added to Food: BROMELAIN
United States: Texturizer — FDA, Substances Added to Food: BROMELAIN
United States: Processing aid — FDA, Substances Added to Food: BROMELAIN

Bromelain is a protein-digesting enzyme from pineapple, used to tenderise meat and in baking. It is why fresh pineapple stops gelatin from setting.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Bromelain 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	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.
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	No listing matchedThis site imports Part III of South Korea’s Standards and Specifications for Food Additives, matched by CAS number, then INS number, then exact name. Mixed preparations and sanitisers are not imported, and an entry whose identifiers disagreed with a page’s is held for review, so an empty row does not show that South Korea does not permit the substance.
United StatesFood and Drug Administration	Permitted		21 CFR 184.1024retrieved 2026-10-17
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFA	Permitted, with conditions	1 food category no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice) Note 16 For use in glaze, coatings or decorations for fruit, vegetables, meat or fish only. Note 326 For use in fresh meat, poultry and game products only.	CXS 192-1995 Table Three, INS 1101(iii)and 1 further provisionretrieved 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.

United States	—	1 no quantity stated
Codex Alimentarius	—	2 GMP

No regulator sets a figure for Bromelain. 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

Extracted from the stem and fruit of the pineapple, Ananas comosus, usually from the stem, which is a processing by-product.

Vegan
Vegetarian

Compare other additives on the dietary indexes.

CAS registry number: 9001-00-7

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 1101(iii) Bromelain

Synonyms: INS No. 1101(iii)

Assay, identification and purity criteria

Description and assay

Specification history: Prepared at the 15th JECFA (1971), published in NMRS 50B (1972) and in FNP 52 (1992). An ADI 'not limited' was established at the 15th JECFA (1971)
SOURCES: Purified proteolytic substances derived from Ananas comosus and Ananas bracteatus (L).
Active principles: Bromelain (cystein proteinase)
Systematic names and numbers Reactions catalyzed: None (EC 3.4.22.4) The enzyme hydrolyzes polypeptides, amides and esters, especially at linkages involving basic amino acids, or leucine or glycine, yielding peptides of lower molecular weight.
DESCRIPTION: White to light tan amorphous powder; soluble in water, the solutions being colourless to light yellow and somewhat opalescent; practically insoluble in alcohol, chloroform and ether
FUNCTIONAL USES: Enzyme preparation Used in the chillproofing of beer, tenderizing of meat, preparation of precooked cereals, and production of protein hydrolysates.
GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS: Must conform to the General Specifications for Enzyme Preparations used in Food Processing (see Volume Introduction)

Identification

Bromelain activity (Vol. 4): The sample shows plant proteolytic activity (see Proteolytic Activity, Plant)

FAO JECFA Monograph 1 (2006)

Every name it appears under

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

INS number

1101(iii)

CAS registry number

9001-00-7

As it appears in regulation

Bromelain

Other names

BROMELAIN

Hazard reference values

Values set by assessing bodies. A body that has not set a value is not listed here.
Type	Value	Population	Assessed by	Opinion
ADI	not limited	—	JECFA	1971

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 INS 1101(iii)?: INS 1101(iii) is Bromelain. Bromelain is a protein-digesting enzyme from pineapple, used to tenderise meat and in baking. It is why fresh pineapple stops gelatin from setting.
What is Bromelain used for in food?: It is listed as a flavour enhancer — the role Codex and the US assign it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.
Is Bromelain banned in Europe?: No. Bromelain 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 Bromelain permitted?: Of the seven regulators this site reads, 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 Bromelain vegan?: Yes. Bromelain is not derived from animals, and is suitable for vegetarians. This page says what it is made from and how.

Sources for this page

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.

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

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