What is Monk fruit extract?

An intense sweetener from the fruit of Siraitia grosvenorii, a gourd grown in southern China. Its sweetness comes from mogrosides, which are hundreds of times sweeter than sugar by weight.

What is Monk fruit extract used for in food?

It is listed as a sweetener — the role Canada assigns it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.

Where is Monk fruit extract permitted?

Of the seven regulators this site reads, Australia and New Zealand and Canada permit it. Each permission is for named foods at named levels, not a blanket one; the table on this page gives them with citations.

Is Monk fruit extract vegan?

Yes. Monk fruit extract is not derived from animals, and is suitable for vegetarians. This page says what it is made from and how.

Monk fruit extract: legal status by country

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Monk fruit extract by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
Jurisdiction	Status	Scope and limits	Citation
Australia and New ZealandFood Standards Australia New Zealand	Permitted, with conditions	56 food categories no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice) Show every food category 0 Preparations of food additives — GMP 1.1.1 Liquid milk (including buttermilk) — GMPOnly UHT goats milk. 1.1.2 Liquid milk products and flavoured liquid milk — GMP 1.2.2 Fermented milk products and rennetted milk products — GMP 1.3 Condensed milk and evaporated milk — GMP 1.4.1 Cream, reduced cream and light cream — GMPOnly UHT creams and creams receiving equivalent or greater heat treatments. 1.4.2 Cream products (flavoured, whipped, thickened, sour cream etc) — GMP 1.5 Dried milk, milk powder, cream powder — GMP 1.6 Cheese and cheese products — GMP 10.2 Liquid egg products — GMP 10.3 Frozen egg products — GMP 10.4 Dried or heat coagulated egg products — GMP 11.1.1 Rainbow sugar — GMP 11.3.1 Dried honey — GMP 11.4 Tabletop sweeteners — GMP 12.1.2 Reduced sodium salt mixture — GMP 12.1.3 Salt substitute — GMP 12.5 Yeast and yeast products — GMP 12.6 Vegetable protein products — GMP 13.3 Formulated meal replacements and formulated supplementary foods — GMP 13.4 Formulated supplementary sports foods — GMP 13.5 Food for special medical purposes — GMP 14.1.1.2 Carbonated, mineralised and soda waters — GMP 14.1.2.1 Fruit and vegetable juices — GMPFor juice separated by other than mechanical means only. 14.1.2.2 Fruit and vegetable juice products — GMP 14.1.3 Water based flavoured drinks — GMP 14.1.4 Formulated Beverages — GMP 14.1.4 Formulated Beverages — GMPSection 1.3.1—5 does not apply. 14.1.5 Coffee, coffee substitutes, tea, herbal infusions and similar products — GMP 14.2.3 Wine based drinks and reduced alcohol wines — GMP 14.2.4.1 Fruit wine products and vegetable wine products — GMP 14.2.5 Spirits and liqueurs — GMP 14.3 Alcoholic beverages not included in item 14.2 — GMP 2.1 Edible oils essentially free of water — GMP 2.2.1.2 Butter products — GMP 2.2.1.3 Margarine and similar products — GMP 2.2.2 Oil emulsions (<80% oil) — GMP 20 Foods not included in items 0 to 14 — GMP 3 Ice cream and edible ices — GMP 4.1.3 Fruits and vegetables that are peeled, cut, or both peeled and cut — GMP 4.3 Processed fruits and vegetables — GMP 5 Confectionery — GMP 5.1 Chocolate and cocoa products — GMP 5.2 Sugar confectionery — GMP 5.4 Icings and frostings — GMP 6.3 Processed cereal and meal products — GMP 6.4 Flour products (including noodles and pasta) — GMP 7 Breads and bakery products — GMP 8.2 Processed meat, poultry and game products in whole cuts or pieces — GMP 8.3 Processed comminuted meat, poultry and game products, other than products listed in item 8.3.2 — GMP 8.3.2 Sausage and sausage meat containing raw, unprocessed meat — GMP 8.4 Edible casings — GMP 8.5 Animal protein products — GMP 9.2 Processed fish and fish products — GMP 9.3 Semi preserved fish and fish products — GMP 9.4 Fully preserved fish including canned fish products — GMP	Food Standards Code, Schedule 15, S15—5and 55 further provisionsretrieved 2026-10-17
CanadaHealth Canada	Permitted, with conditions	highest permitted level 8,000 mg/kg In: Table-top sweeteners. Purpose: Sweetener. Limit: 8,000 ppm calculated as mogroside V. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0019.	Health Canada, List of Permitted Sweeteners (List 9), item M.4retrieved 2026-10-17
European UnionEuropean Commission / EFSA	No listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it.
Great BritainFood Standards Agency / Food Standards Scotland	No listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it.
JapanConsumer Affairs Agency	No listing matchedThis site imports only Japan’s list of designated additives (Appended Table 1 to the Regulations for Enforcement of the Food Sanitation Act), matched by English name. Existing additives, natural flavouring agents and ordinary foods used as additives are permitted outside that list and are not imported, so an empty row does not show that Japan does not permit the substance.
South KoreaMinistry of Food and Drug Safety	No listing matchedThis site imports Part III of South Korea’s Standards and Specifications for Food Additives, matched by CAS number, then INS number, then exact name. Mixed preparations and sanitisers are not imported, and an entry whose identifiers disagreed with a page’s is held for review, so an empty row does not show that South Korea does not permit the substance.
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	Not listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited.

How much is permitted

A listing usually limits the quantity as well as the food. Only one of the forms that takes is a figure: quantum satis and good manufacturing practice permit the amount the technological effect requires and no more, which is a limit rather than the absence of one. Figures below are the range across every food category this page is listed in, and categories differ between regulators — see how much is permitted.

Australia and New Zealand	—	56 GMP
Canada	8,000 mg/kg	1 numeric limit

What a label must say

Words a food containing Monk fruit extract is obliged to carry, quoted from the instrument that imposes them. A required statement is a fact about the regulation, not a finding about the substance — every rule below applies where the additive is authorised.

‘with sweetener(s)’, or ‘with sugar(s) and sweetener(s)’ where the food also contains added sugar. The statement accompanies the name of the food.
Any food containing an authorised sweetener. Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex III, points 2.1 and 2.2 · Assimilated Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex III

Every rule collected at what a label must say.

What it is made from

The fruit is crushed and infused, and the mogrosides are concentrated and purified from the juice.

Vegan
Vegetarian

Compare other additives on the dietary indexes.

Every name it appears under

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

As it appears in regulation

Luo han guo (LHG) extract
Monk fruit extract

Other names

Monk Fruit Extract

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 rather than machine-read, and none has been written for this substance yet.

Common questions

Assembled from what is above, in the words the questions are usually asked in. Each answer is the same statement the relevant section makes, with the same citations behind it.

What is Monk fruit extract?: An intense sweetener from the fruit of Siraitia grosvenorii, a gourd grown in southern China. Its sweetness comes from mogrosides, which are hundreds of times sweeter than sugar by weight.
What is Monk fruit extract used for in food?: It is listed as a sweetener — the role Canada assigns it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.
Where is Monk fruit extract permitted?: Of the seven regulators this site reads, Australia and New Zealand and Canada permit it. Each permission is for named foods at named levels, not a blanket one; the table on this page gives them with citations.
Is Monk fruit extract vegan?: Yes. Monk fruit extract is not derived from animals, and is suitable for vegetarians. This page says what it is made from and how.

Sources for this page

anz retrieved 2026-10-17
ca retrieved 2026-10-17

Full licence terms and publisher details on Sources. How this page is built and updated: Method.

Machine-readable: a JSON record of this additive is given on request —how to ask for access.

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