Methyl ethyl cellulose

E number E465INS 465CAS 9004-69-7

Used as an emulsifier — Codex also lists it as foaming, agent, stabilizer, thickener.

Methyl ethyl cellulose is a thickener, emulsifier and foaming agent. Like other modified celluloses it thickens on heating rather than on cooling, which is the reverse of gelatin.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Methyl ethyl cellulose by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
JurisdictionStatusScope and limitsCitation
United StatesFood and Drug AdministrationPermitted, with conditions21 CFR 172.872retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFAPermitted, with conditions

16 food categories

no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice)

Show every food category
  • 01.2.1.1 Fermented milks (plain), not heat-treated after fermentation — GMP
  • 01.2.1.2 Fermented milks (plain), heat-treated after fermentation — GMP
  • 01.2.2 Renneted milk (plain) — 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
  • 08.1.1 Fresh meat, poultry and game, whole pieces or cuts — GMP
  • 08.1.2 Fresh meat, poultry and game, comminuted — GMP
  • 09.2.1 Frozen fish, fish fillets, and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 09.2.2 Frozen battered fish, fish fillets and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 09.2.3 Frozen minced and creamed fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 09.2.4.1 Cooked fish and fish products — GMP
  • 09.2.4.3 Fried fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 09.2.5 Smoked, dried, fermented, and/or salted fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 11.4 Other sugars and syrups (e.g. xylose, maple syrup, sugar toppings) — GMP
  • 12.1.2 Salt substitutes — GMP
  • 14.1.5 Coffee, coffee substitutes, tea, herbal infusions, and other hot cereal and grain beverages, excluding cocoa — GMP
CXS 192-1995 Table Three, INS 465and 16 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Made by treating purified plant cellulose with methyl and ethyl groups.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
CAS registry number
9004-69-7

Every name it appears under

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

E number

  • E465

INS number

  • 465

CAS registry number

  • 9004-69-7

As it appears in regulation

  • Methyl ethyl cellulose

Other names

  • E 465
  • Ethyl methyl cellulose
  • METHYL ETHYL CELLULOSE
  • Methylethylcellulose

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/methyl-ethyl-cellulose.json