What is Salts of furcelleran used for in food?

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

Is Salts of furcelleran banned in Europe?

No. Salts of furcelleran does not appear on the EU's list of authorised food additives, which is not the same as being banned: the EU permits an additive only where it has authorised it, and usually the reason for an absence is that no one applied. The EU has made no finding against this substance. It does mean it may not be used as a food additive in the EU today.

Where is Salts of furcelleran permitted?

Of the seven regulators this site reads, Canada and the US 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 Salts of furcelleran vegan?

Yes. Salts of furcelleran is not derived from animals, and is suitable for vegetarians. This page says what it is made from and how.

Salts of furcelleran

Listed as an emulsifier, a thickener and a stabiliser by Canada.

Listed as emulsifiers (CA) · thickeners (CA) · stabilisers (CA)

Canada: Emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agent — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4)
Canada: Emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agent — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4)
Canada: Thickening agent — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4)
Canada: Emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agent — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4)

Salts of furcelleran are the ammonium, calcium, potassium and sodium forms of furcelleran, a seaweed gelling agent.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Salts of furcelleran 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	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.
CanadaHealth Canada	Permitted, with conditions	no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice) 16 permitted uses Show every permitted use In: Beer. Purpose: Emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agent. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item A.9(a) In: Calorie-reduced margarine. Purpose: Emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agent. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 5,000 ppm. If used in any combination with other emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agents, or gelling agents, the total combined amount not to exceed 5,000 ppm. This total combined amount does not include any of gelatin, lecithin, monoglycerides, mono- and diglycerides or sorbitan tristearate that may be added up to their respective maximum levels of use set out in this list. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item A.9(b) In: Canned asparagus; Canned green beans; Canned peas; Canned wax beans. Purpose: Thickening agent. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 1.0%. If used in any combination with other thickening agents, the total combined amount not to exceed 1.0%. In either case, ammonium furcelleran is only to be used with butter or other edible animal or vegetable fats or oils. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item A.9(c) In: Unstandardized foods. Purpose: Emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agent. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item A.9(d) In: Beer. Purpose: Emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agent. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item C.5(a) In: Calorie-reduced margarine. Purpose: Emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agent. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 5,000 ppm. If used in any combination with other emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agents, or gelling agents, the total combined amount not to exceed 5,000 ppm. This total combined amount does not include any of gelatin, lecithin, monoglycerides, mono- and diglycerides or sorbitan tristearate that may be added up to their respective maximum levels of use set out in this list. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item C.5(b) In: Canned asparagus; Canned green beans; Canned peas; Canned wax beans. Purpose: Thickening agent. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 1.0%. If used in any combination with other thickening agents, the total combined amount not to exceed 1.0%. In either case, calcium furcelleran is only to be used with butter or other edible animal or vegetable fats or oils. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item C.5(c) In: Unstandardized foods. Purpose: Emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agent. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item C.5(d) In: Beer. Purpose: Emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agent. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item P.12(a) In: Calorie-reduced margarine. Purpose: Emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agent. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 5,000 ppm. If used in any combination with other emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agents, or gelling agents, the total combined amount not to exceed 5,000 ppm. This total combined amount does not include any of gelatin, lecithin, monoglycerides, mono- and diglycerides or sorbitan tristearate that may be added up to their respective maximum levels of use set out in this list. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item P.12(b) In: Canned asparagus; Canned green beans; Canned peas; Canned wax beans. Purpose: Thickening agent. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 1.0%. If used in any combination with other thickening agents, the total combined amount not to exceed 1.0%. In either case, potassium furcelleran is only to be used with butter or other edible animal or vegetable fats or oils. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item P.12(c) In: Unstandardized foods. Purpose: Emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agent. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item P.12(d) In: Beer. Purpose: Emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agent. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item S.6(a) In: Calorie-reduced margarine. Purpose: Emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agent. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 5,000 ppm. If used in any combination with other emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agents, or gelling agents, the total combined amount not to exceed 5,000 ppm. This total combined amount does not include any of gelatin, lecithin, monoglycerides, mono- and diglycerides or sorbitan tristearate that may be added up to their respective maximum levels of use set out in this list. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item S.6(b) In: Canned asparagus; Canned green beans; Canned peas; Canned wax beans. Purpose: Thickening agent. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 1.0%. If used in any combination with other thickening agents, the total combined amount not to exceed 1.0%. In either case, sodium furcelleran is only to be used with butter or other edible animal or vegetable fats or oils. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item S.6(c) In: Unstandardized foods. Purpose: Emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agent. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item S.6(d)	Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4)and 15 further provisionsretrieved 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	Permitted, with conditions		21 CFR 172.660retrieved 2026-10-17
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.

Canada	—	8 GMP, 8 no quantity stated
United States	—	1 no quantity stated

No regulator sets a figure for Salts of furcelleran. That is not an absence of control: where the listing says quantum satis or good manufacturing practice, the quantity is limited to what the effect requires.

What it is made from

Extracted from red seaweed and neutralised with the corresponding alkali.

Vegan
Vegetarian

Compare other additives on the dietary indexes.

Every name it appears under

1 recorded name. A label may use any of them.

As it appears in regulation

Salts of furcelleran

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 Salts of furcelleran?: Salts of furcelleran are the ammonium, calcium, potassium and sodium forms of furcelleran, a seaweed gelling agent.
What is Salts of furcelleran used for in food?: It is listed as an emulsifier, a thickener and a stabiliser — the role Canada assigns it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.
Is Salts of furcelleran banned in Europe?: No. Salts of furcelleran does not appear on the EU's list of authorised food additives, which is not the same as being banned: the EU permits an additive only where it has authorised it, and usually the reason for an absence is that no one applied. The EU has made no finding against this substance. It does mean it may not be used as a food additive in the EU today.
Where is Salts of furcelleran permitted?: Of the seven regulators this site reads, Canada and the US 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 Salts of furcelleran vegan?: Yes. Salts of furcelleran is not derived from animals, and is suitable for vegetarians. This page says what it is made from and how.

Sources for this page

ca retrieved 2026-10-17
ecfr 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.

Follow changes to Salts of furcelleran:Atom feed — regulatory events, and any change the weekly refresh detects in its provisions.