Stannous chloride

E number E512INS 512CAS 7772-99-8

Listed as an antioxidant by Codex and the US.

Listed as antioxidants (US, Codex) · colour retention agents (Codex)
Chemical structure of Stannous chloride, from PubChem compound 24479
Structure from PubChem CID 24479 (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.

Stannous chloride is an antioxidant and colour retention agent used in canned white asparagus and some other canned vegetables, where it prevents discolouration.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Stannous chloride 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 ZealandPermitted, with conditions

1 food category

highest permitted level 100 mg/kg

Only asparagus not in direct contact with tin.

Food Standards Code, Schedule 15, S15—5, item 4.3.3, INS 512retrieved 2026-10-17
CanadaHealth CanadaPermitted, with conditions

highest permitted level 25 mg/kg

2 permitted uses

Show every permitted use
  • In: Asparagus packed in glass containers or fully lined (lacquered) cans. Purpose: Flavour and colour stabilizer. Limit: 25 ppm, calculated as tin. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Additives with Other Purposes of Use (List 8), item S.31(a)
  • In: Canned carbonated soft drinks; Concentrated fruit juices, except frozen concentrated orange juice; Lemon juice; Lime juice. Purpose: Flavour and colour stabilizer. Limit: Good Manufacturing Practice. — Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Additives with Other Purposes of Use (List 8), item S.31(b)
Health Canada, List of Permitted Food Additives with Other Purposes of Use (List 8)and 1 further provisionretrieved 2026-10-17
European UnionEuropean Commission / EFSAPermitted, with conditions

1 food category

highest permitted level 25 mg/kg

ML = 25 mg/kg. only white asparagus. Note 55: Expressed as Sn.

Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, Annex II, as amended by (EU) No 1129/2011retrieved 2026-10-18
Great BritainFood Standards Agency / Food Standards ScotlandPermitted, with conditions

1 food category

highest permitted level 25 mg/kg or mg/l

ML = 25. only white asparagus. Note (55): Expressed as Sn.

Assimilated Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, Annex II (as at 28 June 2024)retrieved 2026-10-18
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 AdministrationPermitted, with conditions21 CFR 172.180and 1 further provisionretrieved 2026-10-17
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFAPermitted, with conditions

3 food categories

highest permitted level 25 mg/kg

Show every food category and its notes
  • 04.1.2.4 Canned or bottled (pasteurized) fruit — 20 mg/kg
    • Note 43 As tin.
    • Note 141 Excluding canned pears and canned pineapples conforming to the Standard for Certain Canned Fruits (CODEX STAN 319-2015).
  • 04.2.2.4 Canned or bottled (pasteurized) or retort pouch vegetables (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), and seaweeds — 25 mg/kg
    • Note 43 As tin.
    • Note XS57 Excluding products conforming to the Standard for Processed Tomato Concentrates (CODEX STAN 57-1981).
    • Note XS257R Excluding products conforming to the Codex Regional Standard for Canned Humus with Tehena (CODEX STAN 257R-2007).
    • Note XS258R Excluding products conforming to the Regional Standard for Canned Foul Medames (CXS 258R-2007).
  • 14.1.4 Water-based flavoured drinks, including "sport," “energy,” or "electrolyte" drinks and particulated drinks — 20 mg/kg
    • Note 43 As tin.
CXS 192-1995 Table One, INS 512and 2 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

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.

Australia and New Zealand100 mg/kg1 numeric limit
Canada25 mg/kg1 numeric limit, 1 GMP
European Union25 mg/kg1 numeric limit
Great Britain25 mg/kg1 numeric limit
United States—2 no quantity stated
Codex Alimentarius20 mg/kg – 25 mg/kg3 numeric limit

What it is made from

Made by dissolving tin metal in hydrochloric acid. Its use is narrow and its permitted levels low.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian

Compare other additives on the dietary indexes.

CAS registry number
7772-99-8
InChIKey
AXZWODMDQAVCJE-UHFFFAOYSA-L
PubChem
CID 24479

The two specifications, compared

The European Union sets identity and purity by regulation; JECFA publishes its own through FAO, advisory until a country adopts it. Both documents are below in full. These are the parameters each puts a number on.

ParameterEuropean UnionJECFA
Assayno less than 98 %no less than 98 %
Leadno more than 2 mg/kgno more than 2 mg/kg
Arsenicno more than 2 mg/kg—
Mercuryno more than 1 mg/kg—

The two documents state the same figures for every parameter compared here.

How the EU defines it

The legal specification an additive must meet to be sold as this E number in the EU — what it is, how it may be made, and the purity it must reach. From Commission Regulation (EU) No 231/2012.

E 512 Stannous chloride

Synonyms: Tin chloride; Tin dichloride

Assay, identification and purity criteria

Description and assay

Einecs
231-868-0
Chemical name
Stannous chloride dihydrate
Chemical formula
SnCl₂ · 2H₂O
Molecular weight
225,63
Assay
Content not less than 98,0 %
Description
Colourless or white crystals May have a slight odour of hydrochloric acid

Identification

Test for tin (II)
Passes test
Test for chloride
Passes test
Solubility
Water: soluble in less than its own weight of water, but it forms an insoluble basic salt with excess water Ethanol: soluble

Purity criteria

Sulphate
Not more than 30 mg/kg
Arsenic
Not more than 2 mg/kg
Mercury
Not more than 1 mg/kg
Lead
Not more than 2 mg/kg

Commission Regulation (EU) No 231/2012, Annex, E 512

How JECFA defines it

The international specification for identity and purity, prepared by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives and published by FAO. It is a different document from any above, written by a different body and revised on its own cycle; it is advisory, and a country adopts it or does not.

INS 512 Stannous Chloride

Synonyms: Tin dichloride; INS No. 512

Assay, identification and purity criteria

Description and assay

Specification history
Prepared at the 22nd JECFA (1978), published in FNP 7 (1978) and in FNP 52 (1992). Heavy metals and arsenic specifications revised at the 61 st JECFA (2003). A PTWI of 0-14 mg/kg bw for tin was established at the 33 rd JECFA (1988).
Chemical names
Tin (II) chloride, stannous chloride dihydrate
C.A.S. number
7772-99-8
Chemical formula
SnCl2 · 2H2O
Formula weight
225.63
Assay
Not less than 98.0% and not more than 102.0%
DESCRIPTION
Colourless or white crystals, odourless or having slight odour of hydrochloric acid
FUNCTIONAL USES
Reducer or antioxidant in some bottled or lacquered canned vegetables
METHOD OF ASSAY
Transfer about 2 g of sample accurately weighed, to a 250 ml volumetric flask, dissolve in 25 ml of hydrochloric acid, dilute to volume with water, and mix well. Transfer 50 ml of this solution to a 500 ml conical flask, and add 5 g of potassium sodium tartrate, and then a cold saturated solution of sodium bicarbonate until de solution is alkaline to litmus paper. Titrate at once with 0.1 N iodine using starch TS as the indicator. Each ml of 0.1N iodine consumed is equivalent to 11.28 mg of SnCl2 · 2H2O. (Note: Stannous salts are readily susceptible to oxidation, yet the method of assay does not take account of this. Distilled water contains dissolved oxygen, therefore water used in the method of assay should be "oxygen free"; this may be achieved by purging the water with nitrogen or carbon dioxide or by boiling the air out. In addition to this the iodine solution used in the determination should be free from dissolved oxygen; ideally the iodine solution should be stored in a self-filling apparatus under carbon dioxide.)

Identification

Solubility (Vol. 4)
Soluble in water in less than its own weight of water, but it forms an insoluble basic salt with excess water; soluble in ethanol
Test for stannous ion
To a 1 in 20 solution of the sample in dilute hydrochloric acid TS add mercuric chloride TS dropwise. White or greyish precipitate forms
Test for chloride (Vol. 4)
Passes test

Purity criteria

Hydrochloric acid insoluble
Heat 5 g of the sample to 40 o in a mixture of 5 ml of water and 5 ml of
matter
hydrochloric acid. The sample should dissolve completely, and the solution should be clear.
Sulfates
Not more than 30 mg/kg Dissolve 5 g of the sample in 5 ml of hydrochloric acid, dilute to 50 ml with water, filter if not clear and heat the filtrate or clear solution to boiling. Add 5 ml of barium chloride TS, digest in a covered beaker on a steam bath for 2 h, and allow to stand overnight. No precipitate forms.
Lead (Vol. 4)
Not more than 2 mg/kg Determine using an atomic absorption technique appropriate to the specified level. The selection of sample size and method of sample preparation may be based on the principles of the method described in Volume 4, “Instrumental Methods.”

FAO JECFA Monograph 1 (2006)

Every name it appears under

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

E number

  • E512

INS number

  • 512

CAS registry number

  • 10025-69-1
  • 7772-99-8

As it appears in regulation

  • Stannous chloride
  • Stannous chloride (anhydrous and dihydrated)

Other names

  • Anhydrous stannous chloride
  • Anhydrous stannous chloride, 98%
  • CCRIS 560
  • Dichlorotin
  • E 512
  • EPA Method 1631, Stannous Chloride, 8 x 40g
  • HSDB 582
  • INS NO.512
  • INS-512
  • Kit for the Preparation of Technetium Tc 99m Red Blood Cells
  • SnCl(2)
  • Stannous chloride
  • Stannous chloride anhydrous
  • Stannous chloride dihydrate
  • Stannous chloride(Chunks or pellets)
  • Stannous dichloride
  • Tin (II) chloride
  • Tin chloride
  • Tin chloride (SnCl2)
  • Tin dichloride
  • Tin Dichloride; Dichlorotin; Tin Protochlorie; Tin Chloride; Tin (II) Chloride; Stannous Dichloride
  • tin(11) chloride
  • Tin(II) chloride (1:2)
  • Tin(II) chloride, >=99.99% trace metals basis
  • Tin(II) chloride, anhydrous
  • Tin(II) chloride, anhydrous, powder, >=99.99% trace metals basis
  • Tin(II) chloride, AR, >=99%
  • Tin(II) chloride, LR, >=98%
  • Tin(II) chloride, p.a., 97%
  • Tin(II) chloride, reagent grade, 98%
  • Tin(II) chloride, ReagentPlus(R), >=99%
  • Tin(II) chloride, ultra dry
  • Tin(II) chloride, Vetec(TM) reagent grade, 98%
  • tin(II) choride
  • tin(II)-chloride
  • tin(II)dichloride
  • tin-(II) chloride
  • tin-(II) dichloride
  • tin-(II)-chloride
  • tine (II) chloride
  • Uniston CR-HT 200

Systematic names

  • dichlorotin
  • tin(2+);dichloride;dihydrate

Hazard reference values

No reference value for this substance in the sources we hold.

Evidence and how bodies read it

What assessing bodies concluded

Each conclusion is paraphrased in the body's own framing, from the published opinion linked beneath it. Where bodies differ, both stand; this site does not adjudicate between them or add a view of its own.

  1. EFSA 2018

    The ANS Panel concluded that stannous chloride (E 512) is of no safety concern at its current authorised use and use levels, noting low absorption, no concern for genotoxicity or carcinogenicity, and that no product in the EU was found labelled with it.

    Source document

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 E 512?
E 512 is Stannous chloride. Stannous chloride is an antioxidant and colour retention agent used in canned white asparagus and some other canned vegetables, where it prevents discolouration.
What is Stannous chloride used for in food?
It is listed as an antioxidant — the role Codex and the US assign it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.
Where is Stannous chloride permitted?
Of the seven regulators this site reads, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, the EU, Great Britain, the US and the Codex standard 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 Stannous chloride vegan?
Yes. Stannous chloride is not derived from animals, and is suitable for vegetarians. This page says what it is made from and how.

Sources for this page

  • anz retrieved 2026-10-17
  • ca retrieved 2026-10-17
  • eu retrieved 2026-10-18
  • gb retrieved 2026-10-18
  • ecfr retrieved 2026-10-17
  • gsfa retrieved 2026-09-07
  • euspecs retrieved 2026-10-18
  • jecfaspecs retrieved 2026-09-23

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