Sodium citrate

INS 331(iii)

Used as an acidity regulator — Codex also lists it as emulsifier, emulsifying, salt, sequestrant, stabilizer.

Trisodium citrate is an acidity regulator and emulsifying salt, and the ingredient that makes processed cheese melt smoothly rather than splitting. It is also the anticoagulant in donated blood, though that is a separate use.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Sodium citrate 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 184.1751retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFAPermitted, with conditions

28 food categories

highest permitted level 5,000 mg/kg

Show every food category
  • 01.1.1 Fluid Milk (plain) — GMP
  • 01.1.2 Other Fluid Milk (plain) — GMP
  • 01.1.3 Fluid Buttermilk (plain) — GMP
  • 01.2.1.1 Fermented milks (plain), not heat-treated after fermentation — GMP
  • 01.2.1.2 Fermented milks (plain), heat-treated after fermentation — GMP
  • 01.2.2 Renneted milk (plain) — GMP
  • 01.4.1 Pasteurized cream (plain) — GMP
  • 01.4.2 Sterilized and UHT creams, whipping and whipped creams, and reduced fat creams (plain) — GMP
  • 01.8.2 Dried whey and whey products, excluding whey cheeses — GMP
  • 02.1.1 Butter oil, anhydrous milkfat, ghee — GMP
  • 02.1.2 Vegetable oils and fats — GMP
  • 02.1.3 Lard, tallow, fish oil, and other animal fats — GMP
  • 04.2.1.1 Untreated fresh vegetables, (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes (including soybeans), and aloe vera), seaweeds and nuts and seeds — GMP
  • 04.2.2.1 Frozen 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 — GMP
  • 08.1.1 Fresh meat, poultry and game, whole pieces or cuts — GMP
  • 08.1.2 Fresh meat, poultry and game, comminuted — GMP
  • 09.2 Processed fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — GMP
  • 10.2.1 Liquid egg products — GMP
  • 10.2.2 Frozen egg products — GMP
  • 11.4 Other sugars and syrups (e.g. xylose, maple syrup, sugar toppings) — GMP
  • 12.1.2 Salt substitutes — 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 — 5,000 mg/kg
  • 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 331(iii)and 28 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Made by neutralising fermentation-derived citric acid with sodium hydroxide or carbonate.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
InChIKey
HRXKRNGNAMMEHJ-UHFFFAOYSA-K
PubChem
CID 6224

Every name it appears under

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

INS number

  • 331(iii)

CAS registry number

  • 68-04-2
  • 8055-55-8
  • 994-36-5

As it appears in regulation

  • Sodium citrate

Other names

  • 1,2,3-Propanetricarboxylic acid, 2-hydroxy-, trisodium salt
  • 1Q73Q2JULR
  • Albright's Solution
  • anhydrous sodium citrate
  • Anhydrous trisodium citrate
  • Bicitra
  • Canesten oasis
  • CCRIS 3293
  • Citnatin
  • Citrate Concentrated Solution
  • Citreme
  • Citric acid trisodium
  • Citric acid trisodium salt dihydrate
  • Citric acid, monosodium salt
  • CITRIC ACID, SODIUM SALT
  • Citric acid, trisodium salt
  • citric acid/potassium-sodium citrate
  • Citrofluyl
  • Citrosidine
  • Citrosodina
  • Citrosodine
  • Citrosodna
  • Cymalon
  • Cystemme
  • Cystocalm
  • Cystoleve
  • E-331(III)
  • FEMA No. 3026
  • FEMA NO. 3026, ANHYDROUS-
  • HSDB 5201
  • INS NO.331(III)
  • INS-331(III)
  • Isolyte E
  • Micolette
  • Micralax
  • Modified Shohl's Solution
  • Monosodium dihydrogen citrate
  • Natrii citras
  • Natrocitral
  • Relaxit
  • RS7A450LGA
  • Sod cit
  • sodium (iii) citrate
  • Sodium 2-hydroxypropane-1,2,3-tricarboxylate
  • Sodium citrate
  • Sodium citrate (Na3C6H5O7)
  • Sodium citrate (USP)
  • sodium citrate salt
  • sodium citrate, anhydrous
  • SODIUM CITRATE, UNSPECIFIED
  • Tongue Gel Set
  • tri-sodium citrate
  • Trisodium 2-hydroxy-1,2,3-propanetricarboxylate
  • trisodium 2-hydroxypropane-1,2,3-tricarboxylate
  • TRISODIUM CITRATE
  • Trisodium citrate, anhydrous
  • trisodium-citrate

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-citrate.json