Castor oil

INS 1503CAS 8001-79-4

Used as an emulsifier — Codex also lists it as anticaking agent, carrier, glazing agent.

Castor oil is a release agent and component of confectionery coatings, used to stop sweets sticking together.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Castor oil 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 172.876retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFAPermitted, with conditions

4 food categories

highest permitted level 2,100 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 05.1.4 Cocoa and chocolate products — 350 mg/kg
  • 05.2 Confectionery including hard and soft candy, nougats, etc. other than food categories 05.1, 05.3, and 05.4 — 500 mg/kg
  • 05.3 Chewing gum — 2,100 mg/kg
  • 13.6 Food supplements — 1,000 mg/kg
CXS 192-1995 Table One, INS 1503and 3 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Pressed from the seed of Ricinus communis. The seed also contains ricin, which stays in the pressed cake and does not carry into the refined oil.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
CAS registry number
8001-79-4

Every name it appears under

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

INS number

  • 1503

CAS registry number

  • 8001-79-4

As it appears in regulation

  • Castor oil

Other names

  • Castor oil
  • fats and oils, from animal or vegetable food sources; castor oil; b: esters of glycerol with linear fatty acids, saturated or unsaturated, with an even number of carbon atoms from 8 to 20 inclusive and/or with adipic, citric, 12-hydroxystearic (oxystearin
  • FCM no 527
  • ricinolein

Systematic names

  • 2,3-bis[[(Z)-12-hydroxyoctadec-9-enoyl]oxy]propyl (Z)-12-hydroxyoctadec-9-enoate

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
  • 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/castor-oil.json