Gibberellic acid and its potassium salt

Gibberellic acid is a plant hormone used in malting to speed up barley germination, and on some crops to control growth. In brewing it shortens the malting cycle by days.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Gibberellic acid and its potassium salt 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 172.725retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFANot listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited.

What it is made from

Produced by fermenting the fungus Fusarium moniliforme, which was discovered through a rice disease that made the plants grow abnormally tall.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian

Every name it appears under

1 recorded name. A label may use any of them.

As it appears in regulation

  • Gibberellic acid and its potassium salt

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/gibberellic-acid-and-its-potassium-salt.json