Glycerol diacetate
Diacetin · Glycerol diacetate · E1517 · diacetin · Glyceryl diacetate · Glyceryl diacetate (diacetin)E number E1517INS 1517CAS 25395-31-7
Listed as a carrier and a solvent by Canada.
Listed as carriers (CA) · solvents and vehicles (CA)
- Canada: Carrier solvent — Health Canada, List of Permitted Solvents (List 15)
- Canada: Carrier solvent — Health Canada, List of Permitted Solvents (List 15)
Glycerol diacetate, or diacetin, is a mixture of the 1,2- and 1,3-diacetate esters of glycerol with small amounts of the mono- and tri-esters. Like benzyl alcohol it is used as a carrier and solvent for flavourings rather than for any effect of its own.
Where it is and isn’t permitted
| Jurisdiction | Status | Scope and limits | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia and New Zealand | Permitted | 1 food category no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice) | Food Standards Code, Schedule 15, S15—5, item 0.3, Glycerol diacetateretrieved 2026-10-17 |
| Canada | Permitted | no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice) 2 permitted uses Show every permitted use
| Health Canada, List of Permitted Solvents (List 15)and 1 further provisionretrieved 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 | No listing matchedThis site imports Part III of South Korea’s Standards and Specifications for Food Additives, matched by CAS number, then INS number, then exact name. Mixed preparations and sanitisers are not imported, and an entry whose identifiers disagreed with a page’s is held for review, so an empty row does not show that South Korea does not permit the substance. | ||
| 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.
| Australia and New Zealand | — | 1 GMP |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | — | 2 GMP |
No regulator sets a figure for Glycerol diacetate. That is not an absence of control: where the listing says quantum satis or good manufacturing practice, the quantity is limited to what the effect requires.
What it is made from
Made by esterifying glycerol with acetic acid. Glycerol is obtained from fats and oils of either vegetable or animal origin, or synthetically, and the specification does not say which.
- CAS registry number
- 25395-31-7
The two specifications, compared
The European Union sets identity and purity by regulation; JECFA publishes its own through FAO, advisory until a country adopts it. Both documents are below in full. These are the parameters each puts a number on.
| Parameter | European Union | JECFA |
|---|---|---|
| Assay | no less than 94 % | no less than 94 % |
| Lead | no more than 2 mg/kg | no more than 2 mg/kg |
| Arsenic | no more than 3 mg/kg | — |
The two documents state the same figures for every parameter compared here.
How the EU defines it
The legal specification an additive must meet to be sold as this E number in the EU — what it is, how it may be made, and the purity it must reach. From Commission Regulation (EU) No 231/2012.
A specification does not authorise use. This site holds no EU permission for Glycerol diacetate in food; see the EU row in the status panel above.
E 1517 Glyceryl diacetate
Glyceryl diacetate consist predominantly of a mixture of the 1, 2- and 1,3-diacetates of glycerol, with minor amounts of the mono- and tri-esters
Synonyms: Diacetin
Assay, identification and purity criteria
Description and assay
- Chemical name
- Glyceryl diacetate; 1, 2, 3-propanetriol diacetate
- Chemical formula
- C₇H₁₂O₅
- Molecular weight
- 176,17
- Assay
- Not less than 94,0 %
- Description
- Clear, colourless, hygroscopic, somewhat oily liquid with a slight, fatty odour
Identification
- Solubility
- Soluble in water. Miscible with ethanol
- Test for glycerol
- Passes test
- Test for acetate
- Passes test
- Specific gravity (20° C/20 °C)
- 1,175-1,195
- Boiling range
- Between 259 and 261 °C
Purity criteria
- Total ash
- Not more than 0,02 %
- Acidity
- Not more than 0,4 % (as acetic acid)
- Arsenic
- Not more than 3 mg/kg
- Lead
- Not more than 2 mg/kg
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.
INS 1517 Glycerol Diacetate
Synonyms: Diacetin; INS No. 1517
Assay, identification and purity criteria
Description and assay
- Specification history
- Prepared at the 20 th JECFA (1976), published in FNS 1B (1977) and in FNP 52 (1992). Metals and arsenic specifications revised at the 63 rd JECFA (2004). An ADI 'not specified' was established at the 20 th JECFA (1976).
- Chemical names
- Glyceryl diacetate, 1,2,3-propanetriol diacetate
- C.A.S. number
- 25395-31-7
- Chemical formula
- C7H12O5
- Formula weight
- 176.17
- Assay
- Not less than 94%
- DESCRIPTION
- Clear, colourless, hygroscopic, somewhat oily liquid with a slight, fatty odour, consisting predominantly of a mixture of the 1,2- and 1,3-diacetates of glycerol, with minor amounts of the mono- and tri-esters
- FUNCTIONAL USES
- Carrier
- METHOD OF ASSAY
- Transfer about 1 g of the sample, accurately weighed, into a suitable pressure bottle, add 25 ml of 1 N potassium hydroxide and 15 ml of isopropanol, stopper the bottle, and wrap securely in a canvas bag. Heat in a water bath maintained at 98±2 o for 1 h, allowing the water in the bath to just cover the liquid in the bottle. Remove the bottle from the bath, cool in air to room temperature, then loosen the wrapper, uncap the bottle to release any pressure, and remove the wrapper. Add 6 to 8 drops of phenolphthalein TS and titrate the excess alkali with 0.5 N sulfuric acid just to the disappearance of the pink colour. Perform a blank determination. Each ml of 0.5 N sulfuric acid is equivalent to 44.04 mg of C7H12O5.
Identification
- Solubility (Vol. 4)
- Soluble in water; miscible with ethanol
- Test for glycerol (Vol. 4)
- Passes test
- Test for acetate (Vol. 4)
- Passes test Test the solution resulting from the Assay
Purity criteria
- Specific gravity (Vol. 4)
- d (20, 20): 1.175 - 1.195
- Total ash (Vol. 4)
- Not more than 0.02% Test 5 g of the sample
- Water and glycerol
- The material does not show any opalescence when tested as follows: mix 50 ml of benzene with 10 ml of water, and shake vigorously from time to time for 30 min. Allow the mixture to separate into two layers. Remove 25 ml of the clear benzene layer and add it to 10 ml of the sample in a dry glass-stoppered cylinder of about 100 ml capacity. Allow to stand for 30 min, shake vigorously and examine for opalescence, which indicates the presence of water or glycerol or both.
- Acidity
- Not more than 0.4% (as acetic acid) When 25 ml of the sample are diluted with 50 ml of recently boiled and cooled water and 5 drops of bromothymol blue TS are added, not more than 20 ml of 0.1 N sodium hydroxide are required for titration.
- Unsaturated compounds
- To 10 ml of the sample in a glass-stoppered tube add dropwise a 1 in 100 solution of bromine in carbon tetrachloride until a permanent yellow colour is produced. No turbidity or precipitate appears after standing in the dark for 18 h.
- Lead (Vol. 4)
- Not more than 2 mg/kg Determine using an AAS/ICP-AES technique appropriate to the specified level. The selection of sample size and method of sample preparation may be based on principles of methods described in Volume 4 (under “General Methods, Metallic Impurities”).
Authorised in other additives, enzymes, flavourings and nutrients
These authorisations are not for use in food. They let this substance be used inside another additive, a food enzyme, a flavouring or a nutrient preparation — often as a carrier — and it reaches food only as part of that product. Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008.
| Part | May be used in | Maximum level | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annex III, Part 4: Food additives including carriers in food flavourings | All flavourings | 3 000 mg/kg from all sources in foodstuffs as consumed or as reconstituted according to the instructions of the manufacturer; individually or in combination. In the case of beverages, with the exception of cream liqueurs, the maximum level of E 1520 shall be 1 000 mg/l from all sources | Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, Annex III, Part 4 |
Every name it appears under
6 recorded names. A label may use any of them.
E number
- E1517
As it appears in regulation
- diacetin
- Glyceryl diacetate
- Glyceryl diacetate (diacetin)
Other names
- Diacetin
- Glycerol diacetate
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 E 1517?
- E 1517 is Glycerol diacetate. Glycerol diacetate, or diacetin, is a mixture of the 1,2- and 1,3-diacetate esters of glycerol with small amounts of the mono- and tri-esters. Like benzyl alcohol it is used as a carrier and solvent for flavourings rather than for any effect of its own.
- What is Glycerol diacetate used for in food?
- It is listed as a carrier and a solvent — the role Canada assigns it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.
- Where is Glycerol diacetate permitted?
- Of the seven regulators this site reads, Australia and New Zealand and Canada permit it. Each permission is for named foods at named levels, not a blanket one; the table on this page gives them with citations.
Sources for this page
- anz retrieved 2026-10-17
- ca retrieved 2026-10-17
- euspecs 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.
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