Nitrogen

INS 941CAS 7727-37-9

Used as a foaming agent — Codex also lists it as packaging gas, propellant.

Nitrogen is the workhorse packaging gas. It flushes oxygen out of bags and bottles so fats do not go rancid, and it is what makes a crisp packet firm.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Nitrogen 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 184.1540retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFAPermitted, with conditions

13 food categories

no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice)

Show every food category
  • 01.1.1 Fluid Milk (plain) — GMP
  • 01.1.2 Other Fluid Milk (plain) — GMP
  • 01.2.1.2 Fermented milks (plain), heat-treated after fermentation — GMP
  • 01.2.2 Renneted milk (plain) — GMP
  • 01.4.2 Sterilized and UHT creams, whipping and whipped creams, and reduced fat creams (plain) — GMP
  • 04.1.1.3 Peeled or cut fresh fruit — GMP
  • 09.2.5 Smoked, dried, fermented, and/or salted fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 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 — GMP
  • 14.1.5 Coffee, coffee substitutes, tea, herbal infusions, and other hot cereal and grain beverages, excluding cocoa — GMP
  • 14.2.3 Grape wines — GMP
CXS 192-1995 Table Three, INS 941and 13 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Separated from air by distillation or membrane separation. Air is roughly four-fifths nitrogen, so the raw material is free.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
CAS registry number
7727-37-9
InChIKey
IJGRMHOSHXDMSA-UHFFFAOYSA-N
PubChem
CID 947

Every name it appears under

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

E number

  • E941

INS number

  • 941

CAS registry number

  • 7727-37-9

As it appears in regulation

  • Nitrogen

Other names

  • ASTM D4629 Calibration Set, N @ 0-100 mg/L in Isooctane
  • Azote [French]
  • Diatomic nitrogen
  • Diazyne
  • Dinitrogen
  • HSDB 5060
  • INS NO.941
  • INS-941
  • Liquid Nitrogen
  • MOL Nitrogen
  • Molecular nitrogen
  • N in Stainless steel
  • N in Steel
  • Nitrogen
  • Nitrogen (JP18/NF)
  • Nitrogen (liquified)
  • Nitrogen (n2)
  • Nitrogen C70f6047-a0cb-4f70-aa3a-78acd681efc3
  • Nitrogen Calibration Set: 0-100 mg/L in Isooctane
  • Nitrogen Check Standard: N @ 1 ppm in Isooctane
  • Nitrogen Check Standard: N @ 10 ppm in Isooctane
  • Nitrogen Check Standard: N @ 50 ppm in Isooctane
  • Nitrogen Check Standard: N @ 50 ppm in Toluene
  • Nitrogen Compressed
  • NITROGEN Compressed, NF
  • Nitrogen gas
  • nitrogen molecule
  • Nitrogen Nf
  • Nitrogen Set for ASTM D6366: N @ 10, 25, 50, 75, 100 ng/microL in Isooctane
  • Nitrogen Standard 0.1% W/W
  • Nitrogen, >=99.998%
  • Nitrogen, >=99.999%
  • Nitrogen, elemental
  • Nitrogen, liquid
  • Nitrogen, Messer(R) CANGas, 99.999%
  • Nitrogen, Refrigerated
  • Nitrogen, refrigerated liquid (cryogenic liquid)
  • Nitrogen-14
  • Nitrogeno
  • STEEL, N

Systematic names

  • Nitrogen Set for ASTM D6366: N @ Blank, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 2.5, 5.0, 10 ng/microL in p-Xylene

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/nitrogen.json