Sucrose

CAS 57-50-1

Listed as a sweetener by the US.

Listed as sweeteners (US)
Chemical structure of Sucrose, from PubChem compound 5988
Structure from PubChem CID 5988 (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.

Sucrose is table sugar, from cane or beet. As an additive it is a sweetener, a preservative at high concentration, a bulking agent and a browning agent.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Sucrose 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 CanadaNo listing matchedHealth Canada’s lists name additives without E or INS numbers, so this site matches them by exact name. A substance listed there under a name this site does not recognise has no row here.
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 184.1854retrieved 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.

United States—1 no quantity stated

No regulator sets a figure for Sucrose. 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 a label must say

Words a food containing Sucrose is obliged to carry, quoted from the instrument that imposes them. A required statement is a fact about the regulation, not a finding about the substance — every rule below applies where the additive is authorised.

Every rule collected at what a label must say.

What it is made from

Extracted and crystallised from sugar cane or sugar beet. One detail is not on any label: some cane refineries decolourise with bone char, made from cattle bone, while beet sugar never uses it. Nothing from the char remains in the sugar, but its use is why some vegans avoid non-organic cane sugar.

  • Vegan status depends on the source
  • Vegetarian
  • May raise a kosher question

This is not an omission. What this additive is made from is not fixed — depending on the manufacturer it may be plant, animal or microbial in origin, nobody is required to say which, and the same product can change source between production runs. Ask the manufacturer if it matters to you; a label cannot answer it.

Compare other additives on the dietary indexes.

CAS registry number
57-50-1
InChIKey
CZMRCDWAGMRECN-UGDNZRGBSA-N
PubChem
CID 5988

Every name it appears under

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

CAS registry number

  • 57-50-1
  • 92004-84-7

As it appears in regulation

  • Sucrose

Other names

  • (+)-Sucrose
  • (alpha-D-Glucosido)-beta-D-fructofuranoside
  • 1-alpha-D-glucopyranosyl-2-beta-D-fructofuranoside
  • alpha-D-Glucopyranoside, beta-D-fructofuranosyl
  • alpha-D-Glucopyranoside, beta-D-fructofuranosyl-
  • alpha-D-Glucopyranosyl beta-D-fructofuranoside
  • alpha-D-glucopyranosyl-(1->2)-beta-D-fructofuranoside
  • Amerfand
  • Amerfond
  • beta-D-Fructofuranoside, alpha-D-glucopyranosyl
  • beta-D-Fructofuranosyl alpha-D-glucopyranoside
  • beta-D-Fructofuranosyl-alpha-D-glucopyranoside
  • Cane sugar
  • CAS-57-50-1
  • CCRIS 2120
  • Confectioner's sugar
  • D(+)-Saccharose
  • D-(+)-Saccharose
  • D-(+)-Sucrose
  • D-Saccharose
  • D-Sucrose
  • DYSPEPSIA HEADACHE
  • Frost Sugar
  • Fructofuranoside, alpha-D-glucopyranosyl, beta-D
  • GLC-(1-2)FRU
  • Glucopyranoside, beta-D-fructofuranosyl, alpha-D
  • GNE-410
  • GZE GODDESS SUGAR SCRUB
  • HSDB 500
  • Microse
  • Rock candy
  • Rohrzucker
  • sacarosa
  • Saccarose
  • saccharose
  • Saccharum
  • SACCHARUM OFFICINALE
  • Sacharose
  • Sucraloxum
  • sucrose
  • Sucrose (for injection)
  • Sucrose (Standard)
  • Sucrose - USP
  • Sucrose 15%
  • Sucrose CRS
  • Sucrose Palmitic Acid (1:1 Mixture)
  • Sucrose solution
  • Sucrose, AR
  • Sucrose, dust
  • Sucrose, LR
  • Sucrose, pure
  • Sucrose, purified
  • SUCS
  • sugar
  • sugars, total
  • Table sugar
  • White sugar

Systematic names

  • (2R,3R,4S,5S,6R)-2-(((2S,3S,4S,5R)-3,4-Dihydroxy-2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)tetrahydrofuran-2-yl)oxy)-6-(hydroxymethyl)tetrahydro-2H-pyran-3,4,5-triol
  • (2R,3R,4S,5S,6R)-2-[(2S,3S,4S,5R)-3,4-dihydroxy-2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)oxolan-2-yl]oxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)oxane-3,4,5-triol
  • (2R,3R,4S,5S,6R)-2-{[(2S,3S,4S,5R)-3,4-dihydroxy-2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)oxolan-2-yl]oxy}-6-(hydroxymethyl)oxane-3,4,5-triol
  • beta-D-fructofuranosyl alpha-D-glucopyranoside

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 Sucrose?
Sucrose is table sugar, from cane or beet. As an additive it is a sweetener, a preservative at high concentration, a bulking agent and a browning agent.
What is Sucrose used for in food?
It is listed as a sweetener — the role the US assigns it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.
Is Sucrose banned in Europe?
No. Sucrose 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 Sucrose permitted?
Of the seven regulators this site reads, the US permits it. Each permission is for named foods at named levels, not a blanket one; the table on this page gives them with citations.
Is Sucrose vegan?
It depends on the source, and a label will not tell you. Sucrose can be made from plant or animal material, manufacturers are not obliged to say which, and the same product can change between production runs. Anyone who needs to know has to ask the manufacturer.

Sources for this page

  • 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.

Follow changes to Sucrose:Atom feed — regulatory events, and any change the weekly refresh detects in its provisions.