Caffeine

CAS 58-08-2

Listed as a flavouring agent by the US.

Listed as flavouring agents and adjuvants (US)
Chemical structure of Caffeine, from PubChem compound 2519
Structure from PubChem CID 2519 (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.

Caffeine is added to cola and energy drinks as a bittering agent and stimulant. In the United States its use in cola is a specific GRAS listing rather than a general permission.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Caffeine 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

1 food category

highest permitted level 145 mg/kg

Food Standards Code, Schedule 15, S15—5, item 14.1.3.0.2, Caffeineretrieved 2026-10-17
CanadaHealth CanadaPermitted, with conditions

highest permitted level 150 mg/kg

2 permitted uses

Show every permitted use
  • In: Cola type beverages; Concentrates for cola type beverages. Purpose: To characterize the product. Limit: 150 ppm in the beverage as consumed. Amendment notices: M-FAA-25-07. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Additives with Other Purposes of Use (List 8), item C.1(a)
  • In: Concentrates for non-alcoholic carbonated water-based flavoured and sweetened beverages other than cola type beverages; Non-alcoholic carbonated water-based flavoured and sweetened beverages other than cola type beverages. Purpose: To characterize the product. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 150 ppm in the beverage as consumed. If used in combination with caffeine citrate, the total combined amount not to exceed 150 ppm in the beverage as consumed, calculated as caffeine. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Additives with Other Purposes of Use (List 8), item C.1(b)
Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Additives with Other Purposes of Use (List 8)and 1 further provisionretrieved 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 AgencyNo 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 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), 카페인 (“Caffeine”, the English the Code prints beside it). Main use (주용도) of 카페인: 향미증진제. Standard for use (사용기준) of 카페인: (1) [may be used only for the purpose or in the food the sentence states; sets a limit on the amount used] “카페인은 탄산음료에 한하여 사용하여야 한다. 카페인의 사용량은 무수건조물로서 탄산음료의 0.015% 이하(다만, 최종적으로 탄산음료에 해당되는 제품으로서 5배 이상 희석하여 음용하거나 사용하는 음료베이스는 0.075% 이하)이어야 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 182.1180retrieved 2026-10-17
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFANot 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 Zealand145 mg/kg1 numeric limit
Canada150 mg/kg1 numeric limit, 1 no quantity stated
South Korea—1 no quantity stated
United States—1 no quantity stated

What a label must say

Words a food containing Caffeine is obliged to carry, quoted from the instrument that imposes them. A required statement is a fact about the regulation, not a finding about the substance — every rule below applies where the additive is authorised.

  • For beverages above 150 mg/l, ‘High caffeine content. Not recommended for children or pregnant or breast-feeding women’, with the content in mg per 100 ml. For other foods with caffeine added for a physiological purpose, ‘Contains caffeine. Not recommended for children or pregnant women’.

    Beverages other than those based on coffee or tea whose name says so, and foods with caffeine added deliberately. Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex III, point 4 · Assimilated Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex III

Every rule collected at what a label must say.

GRAS notices to the FDA

A GRAS notice is a company’s conclusion that a substance is generally recognised as safe for the use it describes. FDA’s letter responds to that conclusion, for that notifier and that use. It is not a listing in 21 CFR, and it is not counted as a US permission above. The substance and use are as FDA’s inventory words them; this site matched the notice to this page by exact name.

  • GRN No. 347 · Caffeine · Phusion Projects, LLC

    Intended use: Flavoring ingredient in alcoholic beverages at levels of up to 200 parts per million

    FDA’s response (2010-11-24): At the notifier's request, FDA ceased to evaluate this notice

What it is made from

Recovered from coffee and tea, often as a by-product of decaffeination, or produced by chemical synthesis.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian

Compare other additives on the dietary indexes.

CAS registry number
58-08-2
InChIKey
RYYVLZVUVIJVGH-UHFFFAOYSA-N
PubChem
CID 2519

Every name it appears under

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

CAS registry number

  • 58-08-2

As it appears in regulation

  • Caffeine

Other names

  • 1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6(3H,7H)-dione
  • 1,3,7-trimethyl-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-purine-2,6-dione
  • 1,3,7-Trimethyl-2,6-dioxopurine
  • 1,3,7-Trimethyl-3,7-dihydro-1H-purine-2,6-dione
  • 1,3,7-Trimethylpurine-2,6-dione
  • 1,3,7-Trimethylxanthine
  • 1-methyltheobromine
  • 1H-Purine-2,6-dione, 3,7-dihydro-1,3,7-trimethyl-
  • 3,7-Dihydro-1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purin-2,6-dion
  • 3,7-Dihydro-1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6-dione
  • 5-26-13-00558 (Beilstein Handbook Reference)
  • 7-Methyltheophylline
  • Alert-pep
  • Anhydrous caffeine
  • Cafamil
  • Cafecon
  • Cafeina
  • cafeine
  • Caffedrine
  • Caffein
  • Caffeina
  • caffeine
  • Caffeine melting point standard
  • Caffeine, anhydrous
  • Caffeinum
  • Caffine
  • CAFFN
  • Cafipel
  • Coffein
  • Coffeine
  • Coffeinum
  • Dexitac
  • Durvitan
  • Eldiatric C
  • FEMA No. 2224
  • Guaranine
  • Hycomine
  • Kofein
  • Koffein
  • Mateina
  • Methyltheobromide
  • Methyltheobromine
  • Methylxanthine theophylline
  • Nix Nap
  • No-Doz
  • Nodaca
  • NODOZ
  • NoDoz Caplets and Chewable Tablets
  • Organex
  • Quick Pep
  • QuickPep
  • Refresh'n
  • Stim
  • teina
  • Thein
  • Theine
  • Tirend
  • TREZIX COMPONENT CAFFEINE
  • Tri-Aqua
  • Vivarin

Systematic names

  • 1,3,7-trimethyl-3,7-dihydro-1H-purine-2,6-dione

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 Caffeine?
Caffeine is added to cola and energy drinks as a bittering agent and stimulant. In the United States its use in cola is a specific GRAS listing rather than a general permission.
What is Caffeine used for in food?
It is listed as a flavouring agent — the role the US assigns it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.
Is Caffeine banned in Europe?
No. Caffeine is not on the EU's list of authorised food additives, but it would not be expected to be: every role regulators give it — flavouring agent — the EU regulates under separate law. Its absence from the additives list says nothing about whether it is permitted in Europe.
Where is Caffeine permitted?
Of the seven regulators this site reads, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, 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 Caffeine vegan?
Yes. Caffeine 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
  • 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 Caffeine:Atom feed — regulatory events, and any change the weekly refresh detects in its provisions.