Citric acid

E number E330INS 330CAS 77-92-9

Used as a colour — Codex also lists it as acidity regulator, antioxidant, retention agent, sequestrant.

Citric acid is the most widely used acidity regulator in food, giving a sharp taste and controlling pH in drinks, confectionery, preserves and canned goods. Despite the name, almost none of it now comes from citrus fruit.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Citric acid by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
Jurisdiction	Status	Scope and limits	Citation
United StatesFood and Drug Administration	Permitted		21 CFR 184.1033retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFA	Permitted, with conditions	37 food categories highest permitted level 5,000 mg/kg Show every food category 01.1.2 Other Fluid Milk (plain) — GMP 01.2.1.2 Fermented milks (plain), heat-treated after fermentation — 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 01.6.6 Whey protein cheese — GMP 02.1.1 Butter oil, anhydrous milkfat, ghee — GMP 02.1.2 Vegetable oils and fats — GMP 02.1.3 Lard, tallow, fish oil, and other animal fats — GMP 04.2.1.1 Untreated fresh vegetables, (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes (including soybeans), and aloe vera), seaweeds and nuts and seeds — GMP 04.2.2.1 Frozen vegetables (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweeds and nuts and seeds — 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 08.1.2 Fresh meat, poultry and game, comminuted — GMP 09.1.2 Fresh molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 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 Cooked and/or 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 12.1.2 Salt substitutes — GMP 13.1.1 Infant formulae — GMP 13.1.2 Follow-up formulae — GMP 13.1.3 Formulae for special medical purposes for infants — GMP 13.2 Complementary foods for infants and young children — 5,000 mg/kg 14.1.2.1 Fruit juice — 3,000 mg/kg 14.1.2.2 Vegetable juice — GMP 14.1.2.3 Concentrates for fruit juice — 3,000 mg/kg 14.1.2.4 Concentrates for vegetable juice — GMP 14.1.3.1 Fruit nectar — 5,000 mg/kg 14.1.3.2 Vegetable nectar — GMP 14.1.3.3 Concentrates for fruit nectar — 5,000 mg/kg 14.1.3.4 Concentrates for vegetable nectar — GMP 14.1.5 Coffee, coffee substitutes, tea, herbal infusions, and other hot cereal and grain beverages, excluding cocoa — GMP 14.2.3 Grape wines — GMP	CXS 192-1995 Table Three, INS 330and 37 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Produced by fermenting a carbohydrate feedstock, usually glucose or molasses from maize or cane, with the mould Aspergillus niger, then recovering and purifying the acid. Commercial extraction from lemons ended decades ago. No animal material is involved.

Vegan
Vegetarian

CAS registry number: 77-92-9
InChIKey: KRKNYBCHXYNGOX-UHFFFAOYSA-N
PubChem: CID 311

Every name it appears under

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

E number

E330

INS number

CAS registry number

141633-96-7
77-92-9
79586-22-4

As it appears in regulation

Citric acid

Other names

.beta.-Hydroxytricarballylic acid
1,2,3-Propanetricarboxylic acid, 2-hydroxy-
1,2,3-Tricarboxy-2-hydroxypropane;
1,3-Propanetricarboxylic acid, 2-hydroxy-
2-(carboxymethyl)-2-hydroxybutanedioate;hydron
2-hydroxy-1,2,3-propane-tricarboxylic acid
2-hydroxy-1,2,3-propanetricarboxyic acid
2-hydroxy-1,2,3-propanetricarboxylic acid
2-Hydroxy-1,2,3-propanetricarboxylic Acid, Anhydrous
2-hydroxypropane-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid
2-Hydroxypropanetricarboxylic acid
2-Hydroxytricarballylic acid
3-Carboxy-3-hydroxypentane-1,5-dioic acid
A1ERA
ACD Solution Modified
Acidum citricum
Aciletten
Anhydrous citric acid
BETA-HYDROXY-TRICARBOXYLIC ACID
beta-Hydroxytricarballylic acid
Bio-Active
BRN 0782061
CAS-77-92-9
Caswell No. 221C
CCRIS 3292
Chemfill
citr
Citretten
Citric acid
Citric acid bp
Citric acid monoglyceride
Citric acid, 99%
Citric acid, anhydrous
Citric acid,hydrous
Citric Buffered Normal Saline
Citricum acidum
Citro
CLENPIQ COMPONENT ANHYDROUS CITRIC ACID
E 330
EPA Pesticide Chemical Code 021801
FEMA No. 2306
FEMA Number 2306
HSDB 911
Hydrocerol A
hydron;2-hydroxypropane-1,2,3-tricarboxylate
INS NO.330
INS-330
K-Lyte
K-Lyte DS
Kyselina 2-hydroxy-1,2,3-propantrikarbonova [Czech]
Kyselina citronova
Pleo Citro
Suby G
Ubiquitin
Uro-trainer
Urologic G
XF417D3PSL

Systematic names

2-Hydroxypropane-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid

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/citric-acid.json