Gold

E number E175CAS 7440-57-5

Listed as a colour by Canada and the EU.

Listed as colours (CA, EU)
Chemical structure of Gold, from PubChem compound 23985
Structure from PubChem CID 23985 (National Library of Medicine, public domain). A depiction of one compound: where a listing covers a family, or a substance has no single structure, this page shows none.

Gold leaf and flakes are permitted in the EU as a decoration: on confectionery, on chocolates, and in liqueurs such as Goldwasser, where the flakes are the point of the drink.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Gold by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
JurisdictionStatusScope and limitsCitation
Australia and New ZealandFood Standards Australia New ZealandPermitted, with conditions

3 food categories

highest permitted level 100 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 14.2.3 Wine based drinks and reduced alcohol wines — 100 mg/kg
  • 14.2.5 Spirits and liqueurs — GMP
  • 5 Confectionery — GMP
Food Standards Code, Schedule 15, S15—5and 2 further provisionsretrieved 2026-10-17
CanadaHealth CanadaPermitted, with conditions

no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice)

2 permitted uses

Show every permitted use
  • In: Liqueur; Unstandardized alcoholic beverages. Purpose: Food colour. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Colours (List 3), item G.1(a)
  • In: Ready-to-eat cold-smoked salmon. Purpose: Food colour. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. To decorate the surface. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0202. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Colours (List 3), item G.1(b)
Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Colours (List 3)and 1 further provisionretrieved 2026-10-17
European UnionEuropean Commission / EFSAPermitted, with conditions

3 food categories

Show every food category
  • 14.2.6 Spirit drinks as defined in Regulation (EU) 2019/787 — quantum satisquantum satis. only liqueurs.
  • 5.2 Other confectionery including breath freshening micro-sweets — quantum satisquantum satis. only external coating of confectionery.
  • 5.4 Decorations, coatings and fillings, except fruit-based fillings covered by category 4.2.4 — quantum satisquantum satis. only decoration of chocolates.
Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, Annex IIand 2 further provisionsretrieved 2026-10-18
Great BritainFood Standards Agency / Food Standards ScotlandPermitted, with conditions

3 food categories

Show every food category
  • 14.2.6 Spirit drinks as defined in Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 — quantum satisquantum satis. only liqueurs.
  • 5.2 Other confectionery including breath refreshening microsweets — quantum satisquantum satis. only external coating of confectionery.
  • 5.4 Decorations, coatings and fillings, except fruit based fillings covered by category 4.2.4 — quantum satisquantum satis. only decoration of chocolates.
Assimilated Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008and 2 further provisionsretrieved 2026-10-18
JapanConsumer Affairs AgencyNo 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 KoreaMinistry of Food and Drug SafetyPermitted, 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), 금박 (“Gold Leaf”, the English the Code prints beside it). Main use (주용도) of 금박: 착색료. Standard for use (사용기준) of 금박: (1) [may be used only in the foods listed] “금박은 아래의 식품에 한하여 사용하여야 한다. 1. 주류, 잼류 2. 상기 식품을 제외한 식품과 건강기능식품(외부 코팅 또는 외부 장식에 한함)” 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 StatesFood and Drug AdministrationNot listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited.
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFANot 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 Zealand100 mg/kg1 numeric limit, 2 GMP
Canada—2 GMP
European Union—3 quantum satis
Great Britain—3 quantum satis
South Korea—1 no quantity stated

What it is made from

Gold of high purity beaten into leaf a fraction of a micron thick, or broken into flakes.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian

Compare other additives on the dietary indexes.

CAS registry number
7440-57-5
InChIKey
PCHJSUWPFVWCPO-UHFFFAOYSA-N
PubChem
CID 23985

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.

E 175 Gold

Synonyms: Pigment Metal 3; Aurum

Assay, identification and purity criteria

Description and assay

Colour Index No
77480
Einecs
231-165-9
Chemical name
Gold
Chemical formula
Au
Atomic weight
197,0
Assay
Content not less than 90 % Au
Description
Gold-coloured powder or tiny sheets

Purity criteria

Silver
Not more than 7 % [image] | After complete dissolution
Copper
Not more than 4 %

Commission Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, Annex, E 175

Every name it appears under

84 recorded names. A label may use any of them.

E number

  • E175

CAS registry number

  • 7440-57-5

As it appears in regulation

  • Gold

Other names

  • auride(1-)
  • Aurum
  • Aurum 10X
  • Aurum 12X
  • Aurum 15X
  • Aurum 20
  • Aurum 20X
  • Aurum 21X
  • Aurum 21X Special Order
  • Aurum 30
  • Aurum 30X
  • Aurum 5
  • Aurum 5X Lavender 0.3 Rose 0.3
  • Aurum 6
  • Aurum 6 Special Order
  • Aurum 6X
  • Aurum 8X
  • Aurum Met
  • Aurum Metallicum
  • Aurum metallicum 200C
  • Aurum Metallicum 30X
  • Aurum Metallicum 6X
  • Bestmade Natural Products Aurum Met
  • Burnish gold
  • Colloidal gold
  • COLLOIDAL GOLD PARTICLES
  • E 175
  • Ginseng Gold Polypeptide Antiwrinkle Anti wrinkle essence
  • GOLD
  • Gold (e 175)
  • gold atom
  • Gold coated silicon wafer
  • Gold flake
  • Gold foil
  • Gold Hollow Cathode Lamp: 1.5" Diameter, 2-pin, Non-Coded
  • Gold Hollow Cathode Lamp: 2.0" Diameter, 4-pin, Cableless
  • Gold Hollow Cathode Lamp: 2.0" Diameter, 9-pin, Non-Coded
  • Gold leaf
  • Gold Nanopowder
  • Gold Nanorods
  • Gold Ore
  • Gold powder
  • Gold shot
  • Gold wire
  • Gold wire, 0.25mm (0.01in) dia
  • Gold wire, 0.25mm (0.01in) dia, Premion?
  • Gold wire, 0.5mm (0.02in) dia, Premion?
  • Gold wire, 1.0mm (0.04in) dia
  • Gold wire, 1.0mm (0.04in) dia, Premion?
  • Gold wire, 2.0mm (0.08in) dia, Premion?
  • Gold, colloidal
  • Gold, elemental
  • Gold, ion(Au4+)
  • HSDB 2125
  • INS NO.175
  • INS-175
  • Magnesium gold purple
  • MISA Standard 2: Au, Ir, Os, Pd, Pt, Re, Rh, Ru @ 100 microg/mL in 20% HCl
  • NHS Insomnia
  • Pigment Metal 3
  • Shell Gold
  • Spherical Gold Nanoparticles
  • SuperLighteningBasedonGold24kandKojicAcidSOAP

Systematic names

  • GOLD

The EU re-evaluation programme

Every additive authorised in the EU before 20 January 2009 was put back through EFSA by Commission Regulation (EU) No 257/2010, and this one is named in it. What the Regulation required is below; whether the opinion has since been published is not something this site records.

  • To be evaluated by 31 December 2015. Named in Annex II, Part I, point 3 as “Gold”, among the additives given priority within its class.

Hazard reference values

Values set by assessing bodies. A body that has not set a value is not listed here.
TypeValuePopulationAssessed byOpinion
ADInot allocated—JECFA1977

Evidence and how bodies read it

What assessing bodies concluded

Each conclusion is paraphrased in the body's own framing, from the published opinion linked beneath it. Where bodies differ, both stand; this site does not adjudicate between them or add a view of its own.

  1. EFSA 2016

    The ANS Panel considered the data too limited for a full risk assessment of gold (E 175), but concluded that, given the very low solubility of elemental gold, systemic availability and effects would not be expected. It recommended adding particle size distribution and the proportion of nanoscale particles to the specifications.

    Source document

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 175?
E 175 is Gold. Gold leaf and flakes are permitted in the EU as a decoration: on confectionery, on chocolates, and in liqueurs such as Goldwasser, where the flakes are the point of the drink.
What is Gold used for in food?
It is listed as a colour — the role Canada and the EU assign it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.
Where is Gold permitted?
Of the seven regulators this site reads, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, the EU, Great Britain 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 Gold vegan?
Yes. Gold is not derived from animals, and is suitable for vegetarians. This page says what it is made from and how.

Sources for this page

  • anz retrieved 2026-10-17
  • ca retrieved 2026-10-17
  • eu retrieved 2026-10-18
  • gb retrieved 2026-10-18
  • kr retrieved 2026-10-18
  • euspecs retrieved 2026-10-18

Full licence terms and publisher details on Sources. How this page is built and updated: Method.

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