Helium

CAS 7440-59-7

Helium is a packaging gas, used to displace air. It is chemically inert, which is the whole of its function.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Helium by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
JurisdictionStatusScope and limitsCitation
United StatesFood and Drug AdministrationPermitted21 CFR 184.1355retrieved 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

Separated from natural gas, where it accumulates from the radioactive decay of heavy elements in rock. It is a genuinely finite resource: helium that escapes leaves the atmosphere entirely.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
CAS registry number
7440-59-7
InChIKey
SWQJXJOGLNCZEY-UHFFFAOYSA-N
PubChem
CID 23987

Every name it appears under

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

E number

  • E939

CAS registry number

  • 71086-78-7
  • 7440-59-7

As it appears in regulation

  • Helium

Other names

  • Atomic helium
  • Element Helium
  • Element-He
  • Element:He
  • He (element)
  • helio
  • HELIUM
  • Helium (atomic)
  • Helium (USP)
  • Helium 4
  • helium atom
  • Helium element
  • helium(0)
  • Helium, >=99.995%
  • Helium, >=99.999%
  • Helium, compressed
  • Helium, Messer(R) CANGas, 99.999%
  • Helium, refrigerated liquid (cryogenic liquid)
  • Helium-4
  • HSDB 553
  • Hydridohelium(1+) ion
  • INS NO.939
  • INS-939
  • O-Helium
  • p-Helium
  • SWQJXJOGLNCZEY-UHFFFAOYSA-N

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/helium.json