Carrageenan

E number E407INS 407CAS 9000-07-1

Used as an emulsifier — Codex also lists it as bulking agent, carrier, gelling, agent, glazing agent, humectant, stabilizer, thickener.

Carrageenan is a gelling and thickening agent extracted from red seaweed, used in dairy products, plant-based milks, desserts and processed meats. It is valued for the way it interacts with milk proteins.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Carrageenan 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 172.620retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFAPermitted, with conditions

27 food categories

highest permitted level 1,000 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 01.1.2 Other Fluid Milk (plain) — GMP
  • 01.2.1.1 Fermented milks (plain), not heat-treated after fermentation — GMP
  • 01.2.1.2 Fermented milks (plain), heat-treated after fermentation — GMP
  • 01.2.2 Renneted milk (plain) — GMP
  • 01.4.1 Pasteurized cream (plain) — GMP
  • 01.4.2 Sterilized and UHT creams, whipping and whipped creams, and reduced fat creams (plain) — GMP
  • 04.1.1.2 Surface-treated fresh fruit — GMP
  • 04.2.2.7 Fermented vegetable (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera) and seaweed products, excluding fermented soybean products of food categories 06.8.6, 06.8.7, 12.9.1, — GMP
  • 06.4.1 Fresh pastas and noodles and like products — GMP
  • 06.4.2 Dried pastas and noodles and like products — GMP
  • 08.1.1 Fresh meat, poultry and game, whole pieces or cuts — GMP
  • 08.1.2 Fresh meat, poultry and game, comminuted — GMP
  • 09.2.1 Frozen fish, fish fillets, and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 09.2.2 Frozen battered fish, fish fillets and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 09.2.3 Frozen minced and creamed fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 09.2.4.1 Cooked fish and fish products — GMP
  • 09.2.4.2 Cooked molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 09.2.4.3 Fried fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 09.2.5 Smoked, dried, fermented, and/or salted fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 10.2.1 Liquid egg products — GMP
  • 10.2.2 Frozen egg products — GMP
  • 11.4 Other sugars and syrups (e.g. xylose, maple syrup, sugar toppings) — GMP
  • 12.1.2 Salt substitutes — GMP
  • 13.1.1 Infant formulae — 300 mg/kg
  • 13.1.2 Follow-up formulae — 300 mg/kg
  • 13.1.3 Formulae for special medical purposes for infants — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 14.1.5 Coffee, coffee substitutes, tea, herbal infusions, and other hot cereal and grain beverages, excluding cocoa — GMP
CXS 192-1995 Table Three, INS 407and 27 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Extracted with hot alkali from red seaweeds, chiefly species of Kappaphycus, Eucheuma and Chondrus, then filtered and dried. Food-grade carrageenan is distinguished in regulation from degraded carrageenan, or poligeenan, which is a different substance and is not a permitted additive.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
CAS registry number
9000-07-1
InChIKey
UHVMMEOXYDMDKI-UHFFFAOYSA-L
PubChem
CID 78126884

Every name it appears under

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

E number

  • E407

INS number

  • 407

CAS registry number

  • 9000-07-1

As it appears in regulation

  • Carrageenan

Other names

  • Carrageenan
  • Carrageenan (from Chondrus and Gigartina spp.)
  • E 407
  • Eucheuman (from Eucheuma spp.)
  • Furcellaran or Danish agar (from Furcellaria fastigiata)
  • Hypnean (from Hypnea spp.)
  • Iridophycan (from Iridaea spp.)
  • Irish moss gelose

Hazard reference values

Values set by assessing bodies. A body that has not set a value is not listed here.
TypeValuePopulationAssessed byOpinion
ADI75 mg/kg bw/dayconsumersEFSAnot identified in the dataset

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
  • gsfa 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/carrageenan.json