Gelatin
Edible Gelatin · Gelatin · Gelatin edibleCAS 9000-70-8
Listed as a thickener and a stabiliser by Canada and the US.
Listed as thickeners (CA, US) · stabilisers (CA, US) · emulsifiers (CA) · gelling agents (CA) · humectants (US) · anticaking agents (US) · glazing and surface-finishing agents (US) · flavouring agents and adjuvants (US) · texturisers (US) · formulation aids (US) · solvents and vehicles (US) · processing aids (US)
- Canada: Emulsifying, gelling, stabilizing or thickening agent — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4)
- Canada: Thickening agent — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4)
- United States: Stabilizer or thickener — FDA, Substances Added to Food: GELATIN
- Canada: Emulsifying, gelling, stabilizing or thickening agent — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4)
- Canada: Stabilizing agent — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4)
- United States: Stabilizer or thickener — FDA, Substances Added to Food: GELATIN
- Canada: Emulsifying agent — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4)
- Canada: Emulsifying, gelling, stabilizing or thickening agent — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4)
- Canada: Emulsifying, gelling, stabilizing or thickening agent — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4)
- Canada: Gelling agent — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4)
- United States: Humectant — FDA, Substances Added to Food: GELATIN
- United States: Anticaking agent or free-flow agent — FDA, Substances Added to Food: GELATIN
- United States: Surface-finishing agent — FDA, Substances Added to Food: GELATIN
- United States: Flavoring agent or adjuvant — FDA, Substances Added to Food: GELATIN
- United States: Texturizer — FDA, Substances Added to Food: GELATIN
- United States: Formulation aid — FDA, Substances Added to Food: GELATIN
- United States: Solvent or vehicle — FDA, Substances Added to Food: GELATIN
- United States: Processing aid — FDA, Substances Added to Food: GELATIN
Gelatin is the protein obtained by partly hydrolysing collagen, and it is what sets a jelly, a marshmallow or a mousse. It is used as a gelling agent, a stabiliser, an emulsifier and a crystallisation inhibitor, and comes as sheets, flakes, shreds or powder.
Where it is and isn’t permitted
| Jurisdiction | Status | Scope and limits | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia and New Zealand | No listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it. | ||
| Canada | Permitted, with conditions | highest permitted level 1 % 18 permitted uses Show every permitted use
| Health Canadaand 17 further provisionsretrieved 2026-10-17 |
| European Union | No listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it. | ||
| Great Britain | No listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it. | ||
| Japan | No listing matchedThis site imports only Japan’s list of designated additives (Appended Table 1 to the Regulations for Enforcement of the Food Sanitation Act), matched by English name. Existing additives, natural flavouring agents and ordinary foods used as additives are permitted outside that list and are not imported, so an empty row does not show that Japan does not permit the substance. | ||
| South Korea | Permitted, with conditions | Designated food additive: Standards and Specifications for Food Additives, Part III, 1. …Designated food additive: Standards and Specifications for Food Additives, Part III, 1. 일반식품첨가물 (general food additives), 젤라틴 (“Gelatin”, the English the Code prints beside it). Main use (주용도) of 젤라틴: 유화제, 젤형성제, 안정제. Standard for use (사용기준) of 젤라틴: (1) [to be used under the general standard for use in II. 2. 1), the minimum amount that achieves the technical effect, with no limit set for this additive in particular] “II. 2. 1)의 규정에 따라 사용하여야 한다.” The Korean is the standard as published. There is no official English translation of the current Code (the English version on MFDS’s website is the 2020 edition and has no legal effect); the English in square brackets is this site’s description of what each sentence does, not a translation of the foods or the levels. Compositional specifications (Part IV) are not imported, nor are the general standards in Part II, which apply to every additive. | Standards and Specifications for Food Additives (식품첨가물의 기준 및 규격), MFDS Notification, Part III (Standards for use, by item)retrieved 2026-10-18 |
| United States | Not listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited. | ||
| Codex Alimentarius | Not listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited. |
How much is permitted
A listing usually limits the quantity as well as the food. Only one of the forms that takes is a figure: quantum satis and good manufacturing practice permit the amount the technological effect requires and no more, which is a limit rather than the absence of one. Figures below are the range across every food category this page is listed in, and categories differ between regulators — see how much is permitted.
| Canada | 10,000 mg/kg | 1 numeric limit, 8 GMP, 9 no quantity stated |
|---|---|---|
| South Korea | — | 1 no quantity stated |
What it is made from
Made by partial hydrolysis of collagen from the skin, tendons, ligaments and bones of animals — usually pigs and cattle, sometimes fish. It is an animal product, and which animal it came from matters for several diets.
- Not vegan
- Not vegetarian
- May raise a halal question
- May raise a kosher question
Compare other additives on the dietary indexes.
- CAS registry number
- 9000-70-8
How JECFA defines it
The international specification for identity and purity, prepared by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives and published by FAO. It is a different document from any above, written by a different body and revised on its own cycle; it is advisory, and a country adopts it or does not.
Edible Gelatin
A protein produced by partial hydrolysis of collagen in skin, tendons, ligaments, bones, etc. of animals. The article of commerce may further specify special requirements for criteria such as gel strength and limits of iron, calcium, lactose or other chemical or microbiological requirements, such as requirements concerning selected pathogenic organisms including Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium spp. and mould spores. Information is requested on the microbiological criteria given below, which are tentative only.
Synonyms: Gelatin edible
Assay, identification and purity criteria
Description and assay
- Specification history
- Prepared at the 14th JECFA (1970), published in NMRS 48B (1971) and in FNP 52 (1992). Metals and arsenic specifications revised at the 63rd JECFA (2004). An ADI 'not limited' was established at the 14th JECFA (1970)
- C.A.S. number
- 9000-70-8
- DESCRIPTION
- Sheets, flakes, or shreds, or coarse to fine powder, faintly yellow or ambe r in colour, the shade varying in depth according to the particle size and with a slight characteristic bouillon-like odour; stable in air when dry, but is subject to microbial decomposition when moist or in solution.
- FUNCTIONAL USES
- Stabilizer, gelling agent, emulsifying agent, crystallization inhibitor
Identification
- Solubility (Vol. 4)
- Insoluble in cold water, but swells and softens when immersed, gradually absorbing from 5 to 10 times its own weight of water; soluble in hot water, forming a jelly on cooling; soluble in acetic acid; insoluble in ethanol, chloroform and ether
- Precipitate formation
- To a solution (1 in 100) add trinitrophenol TS or a solution of potassium dichromate (1 in 15) previously mixed with about one-fourth its volume of dilute hydrochloric acid: a yellow precipitate is formed To a solution (1 in 100) add mercuric nitrate solution; a white precipitate is formed which develops a brick red colour on warming.
- Development of turbidity
- To a solution (1 in 5,000) add tannic acid TS; the solution becomes turbid
- Evolution of ammonia
- When heated with soda lime, ammonia is evolved
Purity criteria
- Loss on drying (Vol. 4)
- Not more than 18% (100-105 o , 6 h)
- Odour and water insoluble substances
- A hot solution (1 in 40) is free from any disagreeable odour; when viewed in a layer 2 cm thick, shows not more than a slight opalescence
- Sulfur dioxide (Vol. 4)
- Not more than 40 mg/kg
- Ash (Vol. 4)
- Not more than 2%
- Arsenic (Vol. 4)
- Not more than 1 mg/kg (Method II)
- Lead (Vol. 4)
- Not more than 1.5 mg/kg Determine using an atomic absorption technique appropriate to the specified level. The selection of sample size and method of sample preparation may be based on the principles of the method described in Volume 4, “Instrumental Methods.”
- Cadmium (Vol. 4)
- Not more than 0.5 mg/kg
- Mercury (Vol. 4)
- Not more than 0.15 mg/kg
- Microbiological criteria (Vol. 4)
- Standard plate count: <10 4 /g Enterobacteriaceae or bacteria of the coli-aerogenes group: <10/g Lancefield group D streptococci : <10 2 /g
Every name it appears under
3 recorded names. A label may use any of them.
Other names
- Edible Gelatin
- Gelatin
- Gelatin edible
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 rather than machine-read, and none has been written for this substance yet.
Common questions
Assembled from what is above, in the words the questions are usually asked in. Each answer is the same statement the relevant section makes, with the same citations behind it.
- What is Gelatin?
- Gelatin is the protein obtained by partly hydrolysing collagen, and it is what sets a jelly, a marshmallow or a mousse. It is used as a gelling agent, a stabiliser, an emulsifier and a crystallisation inhibitor, and comes as sheets, flakes, shreds or powder.
- What is Gelatin used for in food?
- It is listed as a thickener and a stabiliser — the role Canada and the US assign it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.
- Where is Gelatin permitted?
- Of the seven regulators this site reads, Canada and South Korea permit it. Each permission is for named foods at named levels, not a blanket one; the table on this page gives them with citations.
- Is Gelatin vegan?
- No. Gelatin is animal-derived, and is not vegetarian either. This page says what it is made from.
Sources for this page
- ca retrieved 2026-10-17
- kr retrieved 2026-10-18
- jecfaspecs retrieved 2026-09-23
Full licence terms and publisher details on Sources. How this page is built and updated: Method.
Machine-readable: a JSON record of this additive is given on request —how to ask for access.
Follow changes to Gelatin:Atom feed — regulatory events, and any change the weekly refresh detects in its provisions.