Sodium benzoate

E number E211INS 211CAS 532-32-1

Used as a preservative.

Sodium benzoate is a preservative used mainly in acidic foods and drinks, where it suppresses yeasts, moulds and some bacteria. It is common in soft drinks, pickles, sauces, fruit juices and dressings.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Sodium benzoate 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 184.1733retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFAPermitted, with conditions

62 food categories

highest permitted level 5,000 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 01.1.4 Flavoured Fluid Milk Drinks — 300 mg/kg
  • 01.7 Dairy-based desserts (e.g. pudding, fruit or flavoured yoghurt) — 300 mg/kg
  • 02.2.2 Fat spreads, dairy fat spreads and blended spreads — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 02.3 Fat emulsions mainly of type oil-in-water, including mixed and/or flavoured products based on fat emulsions — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 02.4 Fat-based desserts excluding dairy-based dessert products of food category 01.7 — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.10 Fermented fruit products — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.11 Fruit fillings for pastries — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.12 Cooked fruit — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.2 Dried fruit — 800 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.3 Fruit in vinegar, oil, or brine — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.5 — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.6 Fruit-based spreads (e.g. chutney) excluding products of food category — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.7 Candied fruit — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.8 Fruit preparations, including pulp, purees, fruit toppings and coconut milk — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 04.1.2.9 Fruit-based desserts, incl. fruit-flavoured water-based desserts — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 04.2.2.2 Dried vegetables (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweeds, and nuts and seeds — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 04.2.2.3 Vegetables (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), and seaweeds in vinegar, oil, brine, or soybean sauce — 2,000 mg/kg
  • 04.2.2.5 Vegetable (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweed, and nut and seed purees and spreads (e.g. peanut butter) — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 04.2.2.6 Vegetable (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweed, and nut and seed pulps and preparations (e.g. vegetable desserts and sauces, candied vegetables) other than food category 04.2.2.5 — 3,000 mg/kg
  • 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, — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 04.2.2.8 Cooked or fried vegetables (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), and seaweeds — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 05.1.3 Cocoa-based spreads, incl. fillings — 1,500 mg/kg
  • 05.1.5 Imitation chocolate, chocolate substitute products — 1,500 mg/kg
  • 05.2 Confectionery including hard and soft candy, nougats, etc. other than food categories 05.1, 05.3, and 05.4 — 1,500 mg/kg
  • 05.3 Chewing gum — 1,500 mg/kg
  • 05.4 Decorations (e.g. for fine bakery wares), toppings (non-fruit), and sweet sauces — 1,500 mg/kg
  • 06.4.3 Pre-cooked pastas and noodles and like products — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 06.5 Cereal and starch based desserts (e.g. rice pudding, tapioca pudding) — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 07.0 Bakery wares — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 08.2.1.2 Cured (including salted) and dried non-heat treated processed meat, poultry, and game products in whole pieces or cuts — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 08.3.1.2 Cured (including salted) and dried non-heat treated processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 09.2.4.2 Cooked molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 2,000 mg/kg
  • 09.2.5 Smoked, dried, fermented, and/or salted fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 200 mg/kg
  • 09.3 Semi-preserved fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 2,000 mg/kg
  • 10.2.1 Liquid egg products — 5,000 mg/kg
  • 10.4 Egg-based desserts (e.g. custard) — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 11.4 Other sugars and syrups (e.g. xylose, maple syrup, sugar toppings) — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 11.6 Table-top sweeteners, including those containing high-intensity sweeteners — 2,000 mg/kg
  • 12.2.2 Seasonings and condiments — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 12.3 Vinegars — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 12.4 Mustards — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 12.5 Soups and broths — 500 mg/kg
  • 12.6 Sauces and like products — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 12.7 Salads (e.g. macaroni salad, potato salad) and sandwich spreads excluding cocoa-and nut-based spreads of food categories 04.2.2.5 and 05.1.3 — 1,500 mg/kg
  • 12.9.1 Fermented soybean paste (e.g. miso) — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 12.9.2 Soybean sauce — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 13.3 Dietetic foods intended for special medical purposes (excluding products of food category 13.1) — 1,500 mg/kg
  • 13.4 Dietetic formulae for slimming purposes and weight reduction — 1,500 mg/kg
  • 13.5 Dietetic foods (e.g. supplementary foods for dietary use) excluding products of food categories — 2,000 mg/kg
  • 13.6 Food supplements — 2,000 mg/kg
  • 14.1.2.1 Fruit juice — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 14.1.2.3 Concentrates for fruit juice — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 14.1.3.1 Fruit nectar — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 14.1.3.3 Concentrates for fruit nectar — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 14.1.3.4 Concentrates for vegetable nectar — 600 mg/kg
  • 14.1.4 Water-based flavoured drinks, including "sport," “energy,” or "electrolyte" drinks and particulated drinks — 250 mg/kg
  • 14.1.5 Coffee, coffee substitutes, tea, herbal infusions, and other hot cereal and grain beverages, excluding cocoa — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 14.2.2 Cider and perry — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 14.2.4 Wines (other than grape) — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 14.2.5 Mead — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 14.2.7 Aromatized alcoholic beverages (e.g. beer, wine and spirituous cooler-type beverages, low-alcoholic refreshers) — 1,000 mg/kg
  • 15.1 Snacks - potato, cereal, flour or starch based (from roots and tubers, pulses and legumes) — 1,000 mg/kg
CXS 192-1995 Table One, INS 211and 61 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Made by neutralising benzoic acid with sodium hydroxide. The benzoic acid is produced by oxidising toluene, a petroleum feedstock, although benzoic acid also occurs naturally in cranberries, prunes and cinnamon. No animal material is involved.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
CAS registry number
532-32-1
InChIKey
WXMKPNITSTVMEF-UHFFFAOYSA-M
PubChem
CID 517055

Every name it appears under

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

E number

  • E211

INS number

  • 211

CAS registry number

  • 532-32-1

As it appears in regulation

  • Sodium benzoate

Other names

  • AMMONUL COMPONENT SODIUM BENZOATE
  • Amzoate
  • Antimol
  • Benzoan sodny
  • Benzoate of soda
  • Benzoate sodium
  • Benzoesaeure (na-salz)
  • benzoic acid sodium
  • Benzoic acid sodium salt; Antimol
  • Benzoic acid, sodium salt
  • Benzoic acid, sodium salt (1:1)
  • BzONa
  • C7H5NaO2
  • CAS-532-32-1
  • Caswell No. 746
  • CCRIS 3921
  • E 211
  • EPA Pesticide Chemical Code 009103
  • FEMA No. 3025
  • FEMA Number 3025
  • Fuminaru
  • HSDB 696
  • INS NO.211
  • INS-211
  • Microcare sb
  • monosodium benzoate
  • Mthwsh
  • NATRII BENZOAS
  • Natrium benzoicum
  • PUROX S
  • s panax all in one mist
  • s panax mist
  • s panax mist for refill
  • Sobenate
  • Sodium benzoate
  • Sodium benzoate (JP18/NF)
  • Sodium Benzoate; Glycopyrronium Bromide EP Impurity D sodium salt
  • Sodiumbenzoate
  • UCEPHAN COMPONENT SODIUM BENZOATE

Systematic names

  • Sodium benzoate

Hazard reference values

Values set by assessing bodies. A body that has not set a value is not listed here.
TypeValuePopulationAssessed byOpinion
ADI5 mg/kg bw/dayconsumersEFSA ANS2016
ADI5 mg/kg bw/dayconsumersEFSA FEEDAP2012
ADI5 mg/kg bw/dayconsumersEFSA FEEDAP2011

Evidence and how bodies read it

Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial

McCann D, Barrett A, Cooper A, Crumpler D, Dalen L, Grimshaw K, et al.. The Lancet. 2007 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61306-3

Design
RCT
Model
human
Dose
Two mixtures of four synthetic colours plus sodium benzoate, at doses chosen to reflect typical UK intakes, given in a drink; challenge and placebo periods.
Endpoint
Global hyperactivity aggregate, combining teacher and parent ratings with a computerised attention test.
Funding
UK Food Standards Agency

What it found. Reported a small increase in the composite hyperactivity measure in 3-year-olds and 8/9-year-olds during the additive-challenge periods compared with placebo. The authors described the effects as modest and variable between individuals.

Limitations. The additives were given as mixtures, so the result cannot be attributed to any single colour or to the benzoate. Effect sizes were small relative to the spread between children, adherence differed between age groups, and the trial measured behaviour over short challenge periods rather than long-term outcomes.

How different bodies read the evidence

Positions are paraphrased in each body's own framing. Where they differ, both stand; this site does not adjudicate between them.

  1. EFSA 2008

    Judged the trial to provide limited evidence of a small effect on activity and attention in some children, but held that the mixtures tested did not allow any effect to be attributed to an individual additive, and that the findings did not warrant changing the acceptable daily intakes.

    Action taken: Left intake limits unchanged

    Source document

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.

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