Iron oxide, black — Food Additive Index

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Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Iron oxide, black by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
Jurisdiction	Status	Scope and limits	Citation
United StatesFood and Drug Administration	Not listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited.
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFA	Permitted, with conditions	32 food categories highest permitted level 7,500 mg/kg Show every food category 01.1.4 Flavoured Fluid Milk Drinks — 20 mg/kg 01.6.2.2 Rind of ripened cheese — 100 mg/kg 01.6.4 Processed cheese — 50 mg/kg 01.7 Dairy-based desserts (e.g. pudding, fruit or flavoured yoghurt) — 100 mg/kg 02.4 Fat-based desserts excluding dairy-based dessert products of food category 01.7 — 350 mg/kg 03.0 Edible ices, including sherbet and sorbet — 300 mg/kg 04.1.1.2 Surface-treated fresh fruit — 1,000 mg/kg 04.1.2.4 Canned or bottled (pasteurized) fruit — 300 mg/kg 04.1.2.5 — 200 mg/kg 04.1.2.6 Fruit-based spreads (e.g. chutney) excluding products of food category — 500 mg/kg 04.1.2.7 Candied fruit — 250 mg/kg 04.1.2.9 Fruit-based desserts, incl. fruit-flavoured water-based desserts — 200 mg/kg 05.2 Confectionery including hard and soft candy, nougats, etc. other than food categories 05.1, 05.3, and 05.4 — 200 mg/kg 05.3 Chewing gum — 5,000 mg/kg 05.4 Decorations (e.g. for fine bakery wares), toppings (non-fruit), and sweet sauces — 100 mg/kg 06.3 Breakfast cereals, including rolled oats — 75 mg/kg 06.5 Cereal and starch based desserts (e.g. rice pudding, tapioca pudding) — 75 mg/kg 07.2 Fine bakery wares (sweet, salty, savoury) and mixes — 100 mg/kg 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings) — 1,000 mg/kg 09.2.5 Smoked, dried, fermented, and/or salted fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 250 mg/kg 09.3.3 Salmon substitutes, caviar and other fish roe products — 100 mg/kg 09.3.4 Semi-preserved fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans and echinoderms (e.g. fish paste), excluding products of food categories 09.3.1 - 09.3.3 — 50 mg/kg 09.4 Fully preserved, including canned or fermented fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 50 mg/kg 10.1 Fresh eggs — GMP 10.4 Egg-based desserts (e.g. custard) — 150 mg/kg 12.2.2 Seasonings and condiments — 1,000 mg/kg 12.5 Soups and broths — 100 mg/kg 12.6 Sauces and like products — 75 mg/kg 13.6 Food supplements — 7,500 mg/kg 14.1.4 Water-based flavoured drinks, including "sport," “energy,” or "electrolyte" drinks and particulated drinks — 100 mg/kg 15.1 Snacks - potato, cereal, flour or starch based (from roots and tubers, pulses and legumes) — 500 mg/kg 15.2 Processed nuts, including coated nuts and nut mixtures (with e.g. dried fruit) — 400 mg/kg	CXS 192-1995 Table One, INS 172(i)and 31 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Manufactured synthetically rather than mined, by precipitating and calcining iron salts under controlled conditions, which gives a purity that natural ores cannot.

Vegan
Vegetarian

Every name it appears under

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

INS number

172(i)

Other names

Iron oxide, black
IRON OXIDES

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

gsfa 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/iron-oxide-black.json