Hydrogenated sperm oil
Hydrogenated sperm oilHydrogenated sperm oil is a listed release agent for bakery pans. The name is literal: it comes from the sperm whale, and this listing is a survival from an era when whale oil was an ordinary industrial commodity.
Where it is and isn’t permitted
| Jurisdiction | Status | Scope and limits | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Permitted, with conditions | 21 CFR 173.275retrieved 2026-09-07 | |
| Codex Alimentarius | Not listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited. |
What it is made from
Hardened by hydrogenation from oil taken from the sperm whale. Sperm whales are protected internationally and the oil is not in commercial use, so the listing outlived its trade.
- Not vegan
- Not vegetarian
- May raise a halal question
- May raise a kosher question
Every name it appears under
1 recorded name. A label may use any of them.
As it appears in regulation
- Hydrogenated sperm oil
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/hydrogenated-sperm-oil.json