Sodium acetate

E number E262INS 262(i)CAS 127-09-3

Used as a preservative — Codex also lists it as acidity regulator, sequestrant.

Sodium acetate is an acidity regulator and preservative used in bread, snack foods and processed meats. It is the salt behind salt-and-vinegar flavouring.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Sodium acetate 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 184.1721retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFAPermitted, with conditions

13 food categories

highest permitted level 6,000 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 01.2.1.2 Fermented milks (plain), heat-treated after fermentation — 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 — 6,000 mg/kg
  • 06.4.2 Dried pastas and noodles and like products — 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 Cooked and/or 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
  • 10.2.1 Liquid egg products — GMP
  • 10.2.2 Frozen egg products — GMP
  • 12.1.2 Salt substitutes — 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
CXS 192-1995 Table Three, INS 262(i)and 13 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Made by neutralising acetic acid with sodium carbonate or hydroxide.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
CAS registry number
127-09-3
InChIKey
VMHLLURERBWHNL-UHFFFAOYSA-M
PubChem
CID 517045

Every name it appears under

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

E number

  • E262

INS number

  • 262(i)

CAS registry number

  • 127-09-3
  • 129085-74-1

As it appears in regulation

  • Sodium acetate

Other names

  • 3 M Sodium Acetate (pH 5.2)
  • Acetate anion standard solution
  • Acetic acid, sodium salt
  • Acetic acid, sodium salt (1:1)
  • Acetic acidsodium salt
  • Acetic-1-14c acid,sodium salt(8ci,9ci)
  • Acetic-2-14c acid,sodium salt(8ci,9ci)
  • AcONa
  • Anhydrous sodium acetate
  • C2H3NaO2
  • CAS-127-09-3
  • Caswell No. 741A
  • CH3COONa
  • E 262(i)
  • EPA Pesticide Chemical Code 044006
  • FEMA No. 3024
  • FEMA Number 3024
  • HSDB 688
  • INS NO.262(I)
  • INS-262(I)
  • Monosodium acetate trihydrate
  • NaOAc
  • Natrium aceticum
  • Natriumacetat
  • Natriumazetat
  • Natrum Aceticum
  • NVG71ZZ7P0
  • Octan sodny
  • Sodii acetas
  • sodium aceate
  • Sodium acetate
  • SODIUM ACETATE (18O2, 95%)
  • Sodium acetate (3h2o)
  • Sodium acetate acetic acid sodium salt
  • Sodium acetate anhydrous
  • Sodium Acetate Anhydrous, >99%, FCC, FG
  • Sodium Acetate Hydrate
  • Sodium Acetate In Plastic Container
  • Sodium Acetate Injection, USP, 200 mEq/100 mL
  • Sodium Acetate Injection, USP, 400 mEq/100 mL
  • Sodium acetate powder
  • Sodium acetate, 99.995% trace metals basis
  • Sodium acetate, ACS reagent
  • Sodium acetate, ACS reagent, >=99.0%
  • Sodium acetate, AR, anhydrous, >=99%
  • Sodium acetate, biochemical grade
  • Sodium acetate, BioXtra, >=99.0%
  • Sodium acetate, for HPLC, >=99.5%
  • Sodium acetate, JIS special grade, >=98.5%
  • Sodium acetate, LR, anhydrous, >=98%
  • Sodium acetate, SAJ first grade, >=98.0%
  • Sodium acetate, Trace metals grade, 99.99%
  • Sodium acetate, Vetec(TM) reagent grade, 98%
  • Sodium acetate-18O2
  • Sodium Acetate; Sodium Ethanoate
  • Sodium ethanoate
  • sodium-acetate
  • sodiumacetate

Systematic names

  • Sodium acetate

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/sodium-acetate.json