Cobaltous salts and its derivatives
Cobaltous salts and its derivativesCobalt salts were once added to beer as a foam stabiliser. The FDA prohibited them for that use after cases of heart muscle disease among heavy beer drinkers in the 1960s were linked to the practice.
Where it is and isn’t permitted
| Jurisdiction | Status | Scope and limits | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Prohibited | 21 CFR 189.120retrieved 2026-09-07 | |
| Codex Alimentarius | Not listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited. |
What it is made from
Inorganic salts of cobalt, such as the sulfate and chloride, produced from refined cobalt ore. Cobalt is separately an essential trace element as the metal centre of vitamin B12, which the prohibition does not affect.
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
Every name it appears under
1 recorded name. A label may use any of them.
As it appears in regulation
- Cobaltous salts and its derivatives
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
Full licence terms and publisher details on Sources. How this page is built and updated: Method.
Machine-readable:/api/v1/additives/cobaltous-salts-and-its-derivatives.json