Lactic acid

E number E270INS 270

Used as an acidity regulator.

Lactic acid is an acidity regulator and preservative used in drinks, confectionery, dressings, cured meats and bread. Despite the name it is not made from milk and is not a dairy ingredient.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Lactic acid 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 184.1061retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFAPermitted, with conditions

18 food categories

highest permitted level 2,000 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 01.2.1.2 Fermented milks (plain), heat-treated after fermentation — GMP
  • 01.4.1 Pasteurized cream (plain) — GMP
  • 01.4.2 Sterilized and UHT creams, whipping and whipped creams, and reduced fat creams (plain) — GMP
  • 01.6.6 Whey protein cheese — GMP
  • 04.2.1.1 Untreated fresh vegetables, (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes (including soybeans), and aloe vera), seaweeds and nuts and seeds — GMP
  • 04.2.2.1 Frozen vegetables (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweeds and nuts and seeds — GMP
  • 04.2.2.7 Fermented vegetable (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera) and seaweed products, excluding fermented soybean products of food categories 06.8.6, 06.8.7, 12.9.1, — GMP
  • 06.4.1 Fresh pastas and noodles and like products — GMP
  • 06.4.2 Dried pastas and noodles and like products — GMP
  • 09.2.5 Smoked, dried, fermented, and/or salted fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 10.2.1 Liquid egg products — GMP
  • 10.2.2 Frozen egg products — GMP
  • 12.1.2 Salt substitutes — GMP
  • 13.1.1 Infant formulae — GMP
  • 13.1.2 Follow-up formulae — GMP
  • 13.1.3 Formulae for special medical purposes for infants — GMP
  • 13.2 Complementary foods for infants and young children — 2,000 mg/kg
  • 14.2.3 Grape wines — GMP
CXS 192-1995 Table Three, INS 270and 18 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Produced by fermenting sugars from maize, beet or cane with lactic acid bacteria. The name comes from its discovery in soured milk, not from its manufacture, and commercial lactic acid contains no dairy material.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
InChIKey
JVTAAEKCZFNVCJ-UHFFFAOYSA-N
PubChem
CID 612

Every name it appears under

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

E number

  • E270

INS number

  • 270

CAS registry number

  • 50-21-5
  • 598-82-3
  • 79-33-4

As it appears in regulation

  • Lactic acid

Other names

  • (+-)-2-Hydroxypropanoic acid
  • (2RS)-2-Hydroxypropanoic acid
  • (RS)-2-Hydroxypropionsaeure
  • 2 Hydroxypropanoic Acid
  • 2-hydroxypropanoic acid
  • 2-hydroxypropionic acid
  • Acidum lacticum
  • Aethylidenmilchsaeure
  • alpha-Hydroxypropanoic acid
  • alpha-Hydroxypropionic acid
  • Aura Teat Scrubber
  • CD2 Activator
  • CD2-FB Activator
  • CD2-HD Activator
  • CD2-LV Activator
  • Cheongin Haejanghwan
  • Cheongin Haewoohwan
  • Cheongin Samrakhwan
  • Chloroxide A
  • Cover All Part A
  • Cover II Part A
  • D Lactic Acid
  • Dermaplex
  • Dermaplex Pre-Post
  • DL-Lactic acid
  • E 270
  • Encore Pre/Post
  • Ethylidenelactic acid
  • ExfoliatingGel
  • FEMA No. 2611
  • HIPURE 88
  • INS NO.270
  • INS-270
  • Kyselina mlecna
  • Lactate
  • Lactate, Ammonium
  • Lactic acid
  • Lactic acid USP
  • Lactic acid, dl
  • Lactic acid, dl-
  • Lactic acid, L-, D- and DL-
  • Lactic acid,buffered
  • LacticPlus
  • Lacticum acidum
  • Lactovagan
  • Lurex
  • Milchsaeure
  • Milchsaure
  • Milk acid
  • Ordinary lactic acid
  • Primary aliphatic saturated or unsaturated alcohols/aldehydes/acids/acetals/esters with a second primary, secondary or tertiary oxygenated functional group including aliphatic lactones
  • Pro-San Activator
  • Propanoic acid, 2-hydroxy-
  • Propionic acid, 2-hydroxy-
  • Purac FCC 80
  • Purac FCC 88
  • Racemic lactic acid
  • Soft-San
  • Synofilm
  • Synoshield
  • Tonsillosan

Systematic names

  • 2-Hydroxypropanoic acid

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
  • 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/lactic-acid.json