Sodium ascorbate

E number E301INS 301CAS 134-03-2

Used as an antioxidant — Codex also lists it as flour, treatment agent.

Sodium ascorbate is the sodium salt of vitamin C, used as an antioxidant and, in cured meats, as a cure accelerator that speeds colour development and reduces nitrosamine formation.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Sodium ascorbate 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 182.3731retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFAPermitted, with conditions

21 food categories

highest permitted level 500 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 01.1.2 Other Fluid Milk (plain) — GMP
  • 01.5.1 Milk powder and cream powder (plain) — GMP
  • 04.1.1.3 Peeled or cut fresh fruit — GMP
  • 04.2.1.3 Peeled, cut or shredded fresh vegetables, (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweeds and nuts and seeds — 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
  • 06.2.1 Flours — 300 mg/kg
  • 06.4.1 Fresh pastas and noodles and like products — GMP
  • 06.4.2 Dried pastas and noodles and like products — 200 mg/kg
  • 08.1.2 Fresh meat, poultry and game, comminuted — GMP
  • 09.1.2 Fresh molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 09.2 Processed fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 12.1.2 Salt substitutes — GMP
  • 13.1.1 Infant formulae — 75 mg/kg
  • 13.1.2 Follow-up formulae — 50 mg/kg
  • 13.1.3 Formulae for special medical purposes for infants — 75 mg/kg
  • 13.2 Complementary foods for infants and young children — 500 mg/kg
  • 14.1.2.1 Fruit juice — GMP
  • 14.1.2.3 Concentrates for fruit juice — GMP
  • 14.1.3.1 Fruit nectar — GMP
  • 14.1.3.3 Concentrates for fruit nectar — 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 301and 21 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Made by neutralising ascorbic acid, produced by fermentation from maize glucose, with sodium.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
CAS registry number
134-03-2
InChIKey
PPASLZSBLFJQEF-RXSVEWSESA-M
PubChem
CID 23667548

Every name it appears under

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

E number

  • E301

INS number

  • 301

CAS registry number

  • 134-03-2
  • 912284-14-1

As it appears in regulation

  • Sodium ascorbate

Other names

  • (+)-Sodium L-ascorbate
  • (+)-Sodium L-ascorbate;Vitamin C sodium salt;Sodium L-ascorbate
  • (5R)-5-[(1S)-1,2-dihydroxyethyl]-3-hydroxy-4-(sodiooxy)-2,5-dihydrofuran-2-one
  • (S)-5-((R)-1,2-Dihydroxyethyl)-3,4-dihydroxyfuran-2(5H)-one monosodium salt
  • 3-Oxo-L-gulofuranolactone sodium
  • Aminofenitrooxon
  • Ascorbate de sodium
  • Ascorbato de sodio
  • Ascorbato sodico
  • Ascorbic acid sodium derivative
  • Ascorbic acid sodium salt
  • Ascorbic acid sodium salt (Vitamin C sodium salt)
  • Ascorbicin
  • Ascorbin
  • C6H7NaO6
  • CAS-134-03-2
  • CCRIS 3291
  • Cebitate
  • Cevalin
  • E 301
  • HBL 508
  • HSDB 694
  • INS NO.301
  • INS-301
  • Iskia-C
  • L(+)-Ascorbic acid sodium salt
  • L(+)Ascorbic acid sodium salt
  • l-Ascorbate, sodium
  • L-Ascorbic acid (sodium salt) (Standard)
  • L-Ascorbic acid monosodium salt
  • L-Ascorbic acid sodium
  • L-Ascorbic acid sodium salt
  • L-Ascorbic acid, sodium salt (1:1)
  • Monosodium Ascorbate
  • Monosodium L-ascorbate
  • Natri-C
  • Natrii ascorbas
  • Sodascorbate
  • sodium (2R)-2-[(1S)-1,2-dihydroxyethyl]-4-hydroxy-5-oxo-2,5-dihydrofuran-3-olate
  • sodium (L)-ascorbate
  • Sodium (R)-2-((S)-1,2-dihydroxyethyl)-4-hydroxy-5-oxo-2,5-dihydrofuran-3-olate
  • Sodium ascorbate
  • Sodium ascorbate CRS
  • Sodium derivative of 3-oxo-L-gulofuranolactone
  • Sodium L-ascorbate
  • sodium L-ascorbate salt
  • sodium;(2R)-2-[(1S)-1,2-dihydroxyethyl]-4-hydroxy-5-oxo-2H-furan-3-olate
  • sodiumascorbate
  • VITA-JEC C
  • Vitamin C sodium
  • Vitamin C, sodium salt

Systematic names

  • Sodium ascorbate; Sodium (2R)-2-[(1S)-1,2-dihydroxyethyl]-4-hydroxy-5-oxo-2,5-dihydrofuran-3-olate
  • Sodium;(2R)-2-[(1S)-1,2-dihydroxyethyl]-4-hydroxy-5-oxo-2H-furan-3-olate

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-ascorbate.json