Sodium hexametaphosphate

CAS 10124-56-8

Listed as an emulsifier, a thickener and an acidity regulator by Canada.

Listed as emulsifiers (CA) · thickeners (CA) · acidity regulators (CA) · stabilisers (CA) · sequestrants (CA) · foaming and whipping agents (CA) · flavouring agents and adjuvants (US)
Chemical structure of Sodium hexametaphosphate, from PubChem compound 24968
Structure from PubChem CID 24968 (National Library of Medicine, public domain). A depiction of one compound: where a listing covers a family, or a substance has no single structure, this page shows none.

Sodium hexametaphosphate is a sequestrant and emulsifying salt used in processed cheese, canned milk, and to stop mineral haze in drinks.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Sodium hexametaphosphate by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
JurisdictionStatusScope and limitsCitation
Australia and New ZealandFood Standards Australia New ZealandNo 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 CanadaPermitted, with conditions

no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice)

24 permitted uses

Show every permitted use
  • In: Blend of prepared fish and prepared meat as set out in paragraph 18.1.3(g) of Volume 18 of the Food Compositional Standards Document. Purpose: Stabilizing agent. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 1,500 ppm, calculated as sodium phosphate, dibasic. If used in any combination with other phosphate salts, the total combined amount not to exceed 4,000 ppm, calculated as sodium phosphate, dibasic, provided that the amount of sodium hexametaphosphate does not exceed 1 500 ppm, calculated as sodium phosphate, dibasic. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0122, NOM/ADM-0048. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item S.8(a)
  • In: Cream cheese spread; Cream cheese spread with (naming the added ingredients); Processed (naming the variety) cheese; Processed cheese food; Processed cheese food with (naming the added ingredients); Processed cheese spread; Processed cheese spread with (naming the added ingredients); Processed (naming the variety) cheese with (naming the added ingredients). Purpose: Emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agent. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 3.5%. If used in any combination with other phosphate salts, citrate salts, sodium gluconate or tartrate salts, the total combined amount not to exceed 4.0%, calculated as anhydrous salts, provided that the total amount of phosphate salts does not exceed 3.5%, calculated as anhydrous salts. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0048. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item S.8(b)
  • In: (Naming the flavour) flavour. Purpose: Emulsifying agent. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. Amendment notices: M-FAA-24-14. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item S.8(b.1)
  • In: Ice cream mix. Purpose: Stabilizing agent. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 5,000 ppm of the ice cream. If used in any combination with other stabilizing agents or microcrystalline cellulose in accordance with paragraph M.8(b) of the List of Permitted Food Additives with Other Purposes of Use, the total combined amount not to exceed 5,000 ppm of the ice cream. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item S.8(c)
  • In: Ice milk mix. Purpose: Stabilizing agent. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 5,000 ppm of the ice milk. If used in any combination with other stabilizing agents, the total combined amount not to exceed 5,000 ppm of the ice milk. This total combined amount does not include propylene glycol mono fatty acid esters that may be added up to their maximum level of use set out in this list. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item S.8(d)
  • In: Infant formula. Purpose: Emulsifying, stabilizing or thickening agent. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 500 ppm in the infant formula as consumed. If used in combination with sodium potassium hexametaphosphate, the total combined amount not to exceed 500 ppm in the infant formula as consumed, calculated as sodium hexametaphosphate. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0048. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item S.8(e)
  • In: Mustard pickles; Relishes. Purpose: Thickening agent. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item S.8(f)
  • In: Sherbet. Purpose: Stabilizing agent. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 7,500 ppm. If used in any combination with other stabilizing agents, the total combined amount not to exceed 7,500 ppm. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List 4), item S.8(g)
  • 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.8(h)
  • In: Beef blood. Purpose: Anticoagulant. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 2,000 ppm. If used in combination with sodium potassium hexametaphosphate, the total combined amount not to exceed 2,000 ppm, calculated as sodium hexametaphosphate. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0048. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Additives with Other Purposes of Use (List 8), item S.12(a)
  • In: Frozen clams; Frozen cooked shrimp; Frozen crab; Frozen fish fillets; Frozen lobster; Frozen minced fish; Frozen shrimp; Frozen squid. Purpose: To reduce processing losses and to reduce thaw drip. Limit: Total amount of added phosphate not to exceed 5,000 ppm, calculated as sodium phosphate, dibasic. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0048, NOM/ADM-0013. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Additives with Other Purposes of Use (List 8), item S.12(b)
  • In: Gelatin destined for marshmallow compositions. Purpose: Whipping agent. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 2%. If used in combination with sodium potassium hexametaphosphate, the total combined amount not to exceed 2%, calculated as sodium hexametaphosphate. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0048. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Additives with Other Purposes of Use (List 8), item S.12(c)
  • In: Unstandardized foods. Purpose: Acidity regulator. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Acidity Regulators and Acid-Reacting Materials (List 10), item S.12
  • In: Canned crustaceans; Canned fish; Canned molluscs; Other canned marine invertebrates. Purpose: Sequestering agent. Limit: Total amount of added phosphate not to exceed 5,000 ppm, calculated as sodium phosphate, dibasic. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0048, NOM/ADM-0034. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Sequestering Agents (List 12), item S.3(a)
  • In: Ice cream mix; Ice milk mix. Purpose: Sequestering agent. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0048. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Sequestering Agents (List 12), item S.3(b)
  • In: Liquid whey destined for the manufacture of concentrated or dried whey products, including those destined for the manufacture of infant formula. Purpose: Sequestering agent. Limit: If used singly, the amount not to exceed 800 ppm in the concentrated or dried whey product. If used in combination with sodium potassium hexametaphosphate, the total combined amount not to exceed 800 ppm in the concentrated or dried whey product, calculated as sodium hexametaphosphate. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0048. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Sequestering Agents (List 12), item S.3(c)
  • In: Meat tenderizers. Purpose: Sequestering agent. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0048. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Sequestering Agents (List 12), item S.3(d)
  • In: Pork jowls; Salt beef; Salt pork; Side bacon; Wiltshire bacon. Purpose: Sequestering agent. Limit: Total amount of added phosphate not to exceed 5,000 ppm, calculated as sodium phosphate, dibasic. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0048. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Sequestering Agents (List 12), item S.3(e)
  • In: Prepared meat or prepared meat by-product for which a minimum total protein content or a minimum meat protein content is set out in Division 14 of Part B of the Food and Drug Regulations; Prepared poultry meat or prepared poultry meat by-product for which a minimum total protein content or a minimum meat protein requirement is set out in Division 22 of Part B of the Food and Drug Regulations. Purpose: Sequestering agent. Limit: Total amount of added phosphate not to exceed 5,000 ppm, calculated as sodium phosphate, dibasic. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0048. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Sequestering Agents (List 12), item S.3(f)
  • In: Pumping pickle or cover pickle used in the curing of poultry or poultry meat. Purpose: Sequestering agent. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. Total amount of added phosphate in the cured poultry or cured poultry meat not to exceed 5,000 ppm, calculated as sodium phosphate, dibasic. The solid cut poultry meat must comply with the meat protein content requirements in section B.22.012 of the Food and Drug Regulations. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0048. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Sequestering Agents (List 12), item S.3(g)
  • In: Pumping pickle used in the curing of beef, lamb or pork cuts, except pork jowls, salt beef, salt pork, side bacon and Wiltshire bacon. Purpose: Sequestering agent. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. Total amount of added phosphate in the cured beef, lamb or pork cut not to exceed 5,000 ppm, calculated as sodium phosphate, dibasic. The solid cut meat must comply with the meat protein content requirements in section B.14.021 of the Food and Drug Regulations. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0048. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Sequestering Agents (List 12), item S.3(h)
  • In: Solid cut meat, except pork jowls, salt beef, salt pork, side bacon and Wiltshire bacon. Purpose: Sequestering agent. Limit: Total amount of added phosphate not to exceed 5,000 ppm, calculated as sodium phosphate, dibasic. The solid cut meat must comply with the meat protein content requirements in section B.14.021 of the Food and Drug Regulations. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0048. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Sequestering Agents (List 12), item S.3(i)
  • In: Solid cut poultry meat. Purpose: Sequestering agent. Limit: Total amount of added phosphate not to exceed 5,000 ppm, calculated as sodium phosphate, dibasic. The solid cut poultry meat must comply with the meat protein content requirements in section B.22.012 of the Food and Drug Regulations. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0048. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Sequestering Agents (List 12), item S.3(j)
  • In: Unstandardized foods. Purpose: Sequestering agent. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. Amendment notices: NOM/ADM-0048. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Sequestering Agents (List 12), item S.3(k)
Health Canadaand 23 further provisionsretrieved 2026-10-17
European UnionEuropean Commission / EFSANo 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 ScotlandNo 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 AgencyNo 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 SafetyNo 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 AdministrationPermitted21 CFR 182.6760retrieved 2026-10-17
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFANot 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—9 GMP, 15 no quantity stated
United States—1 no quantity stated

No regulator sets a figure for Sodium hexametaphosphate. 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

Made by heating monosodium phosphate to high temperature and quenching the melt, giving a glassy polyphosphate.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian

Compare other additives on the dietary indexes.

CAS registry number
10124-56-8
InChIKey
GCLGEJMYGQKIIW-UHFFFAOYSA-H
PubChem
CID 24968

Every name it appears under

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

CAS registry number

  • 10124-56-8

As it appears in regulation

  • Sodium hexametaphosphate

Other names

  • Calgon (old)
  • Calgon S
  • Caswell No. 772
  • Chemi-charl
  • EPA Pesticide Chemical Code 076402
  • FEMA 3027
  • Graham's salt
  • Hexametaphosphate, sodium salt
  • Hexasodium hexametaphosphate
  • Hexasodium metaphosphate
  • Hexasodium metaphosphate (P6O186(-))
  • HMP
  • HSDB 5053
  • HYPHOS CONCENTRATE
  • Medi-Calgon
  • Metaphosphoric acid (H6P6O18), hexasodium salt
  • METAPHOSPHORIC ACID SODIUM SALT
  • Metaphosphoric acid, hexasodium salt
  • Natrium hexametaphosphat
  • Phosphate, sodium hexameta
  • polymetaphosphate
  • SHMP
  • SHP
  • Sodium Hexametaphosphate
  • SODIUM HEXAMETAPHOSPHATE ((NAPO3)6)
  • Sodium hexametaphosphate (Na6P6O18)
  • Sodium hexametaphosphate, LR, >=67% P2O5 basis
  • Sodium phosphate (Na6P6O18)
  • SODIUMHEXAMETAPHOSPHATE

Systematic names

  • Hexasodium 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaoxo-2lambda~5~,4lambda~5~,6lambda~5~,8lambda~5~,10lambda~5~,12lambda~5~-cyclohexaphosphoxane-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexakis(olate)
  • hexasodium;2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaoxido-1,3,5,7,9,11-hexaoxa-2lambda5,4lambda5,6lambda5,8lambda5,10lambda5,12lambda5-hexaphosphacyclododecane 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaoxide

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 Sodium hexametaphosphate?
Sodium hexametaphosphate is a sequestrant and emulsifying salt used in processed cheese, canned milk, and to stop mineral haze in drinks.
What is Sodium hexametaphosphate used for in food?
It is listed as an emulsifier, a thickener and an acidity regulator — the role Canada assigns it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.
Is Sodium hexametaphosphate banned in Europe?
No. Sodium hexametaphosphate 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 Sodium hexametaphosphate 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 Sodium hexametaphosphate vegan?
Yes. Sodium hexametaphosphate 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.

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