Sodium lactate

E number E325INS 325CAS 72-17-3

Used as an antioxidant — Codex also lists it as acidity regulator, bulking, agent, emulsifier, emulsifying salt, humectant, thickener.

Sodium lactate is a humectant and preservative used heavily in processed meats, where it extends shelf life and holds moisture. Like lactic acid it is not a dairy ingredient.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Sodium lactate 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 184.1768retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFAPermitted, with conditions

15 food categories

no numerical limit (good manufacturing practice)

Show every food category
  • 01.1.3 Fluid Buttermilk (plain) — GMP
  • 01.2.1.2 Fermented milks (plain), heat-treated after fermentation — 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
  • 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 — GMP
  • 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
  • 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 325and 15 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Made by neutralising fermentation-derived lactic acid with sodium hydroxide. The lactic acid comes from fermenting maize or beet sugar, not from milk.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
CAS registry number
72-17-3
InChIKey
NGSFWBMYFKHRBD-UHFFFAOYSA-M
PubChem
CID 23666456

Every name it appears under

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

E number

  • E325

INS number

  • 325

CAS registry number

  • 312-85-6
  • 72-17-3

As it appears in regulation

  • Sodium lactate

Other names

  • (+/-)-2-Hydroxypropionic acid sodium salt
  • (2R)-2-Hydroxypropanoate (sodium)
  • 2-Hydroxypropanoic Acid Sodium Salt
  • 2-Hydroxypropanoic acid, monosodium salt
  • 2-hydroxypropionic acid sodium salt
  • 2-Hydroxypropionic acid sodium salt solution
  • C3H5NaO3
  • CCRIS 7316
  • Compound sodium lactate injection
  • compound sodium lactate solution
  • DL-Lactic acid sodium salt
  • dl-sodium lactate
  • E 325
  • INS NO.325
  • INS-325
  • Lacolin
  • Lactate, Sodium
  • Lactic acid sodium salt
  • Lactic acid, monosodium salt
  • Lactic acid, monosodium salt (8CI)
  • Lactic acid, sodium salt (VAN)
  • Mediject L
  • Mediject L (TN)
  • Monosodium 2-hydroxypropanoate
  • Monosodium lactate
  • Natrii lactatis solutio composita
  • Natrum lacticum
  • Per-glycerin
  • Propanoic acid, 2-hydroxy-, monosodium salt
  • Propanoic acid, 2-hydroxy-, monosodium salt (9CI)
  • Propanoic acid, 2-hydroxy-, sodium salt (1:1)
  • Purasal S/SP 60
  • Sod lact co
  • Sodium (dl)-lactate
  • Sodium (lactate) anhydrous
  • sodium 2-hydroxypropanoate
  • Sodium 2-Hydroxypropionate
  • Sodium alpha-hydroxypropionate
  • Sodium DL-lactate
  • Sodium DL-Lactate (60% w/w in H2O)
  • Sodium DL-lactate solution
  • Sodium l-lactate-1-13c
  • Sodium lactate
  • Sodium lactate (7CI)
  • Sodium lactate (JAN/USP)
  • Sodium lactate 0.167 molar in plastic container
  • Sodium lactate 1/6 molar in plastic container
  • Sodium lactate in plastic container
  • SODIUM LACTATE, (+/-)-
  • Sodium lactate, 60% in water
  • sodium2-hydroxypropanoate
  • SodiumDL-lactate
  • Solucion de lactato sodico compuesta
  • Solute de lactate de sodium compose

Systematic names

  • Sodium 2-hydroxypropanoate

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-lactate.json