Diethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC)
Diethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC)Diethylpyrocarbonate was used to sterilise beverages cold, avoiding heat treatment of wine, beer and fruit juice. The FDA prohibited it after it was shown to form urethane, a carcinogen, in the treated drink.
Where it is and isn’t permitted
| Jurisdiction | Status | Scope and limits | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Prohibited | 21 CFR 189.140retrieved 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
Synthesised from ethyl chloroformate. Its intended advantage was that it decomposed after doing its work; the difficulty was what it decomposed into in the presence of ammonia.
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
Every name it appears under
1 recorded name. A label may use any of them.
As it appears in regulation
- Diethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC)
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/diethylpyrocarbonate-depc.json