Tartaric acid

E number E334INS 334CAS 87-69-4

Used as an antioxidant — Codex also lists it as acidity regulator, flavour enhancer, sequestrant.

Tartaric acid is the characteristic acid of grapes, used in baking powder, confectionery, soft drinks and jams. It is what gives cream of tartar its name and its function.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Tartaric acid by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
Jurisdiction	Status	Scope and limits	Citation
United StatesFood and Drug Administration	Permitted		21 CFR 184.1099retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFA	Permitted, with conditions	63 food categories highest permitted level 30,000 mg/kg Show every food category 01.1.4 Flavoured Fluid Milk Drinks — 2,000 mg/kg 01.2.1.2 Fermented milks (plain), heat-treated after fermentation — 2,000 mg/kg 01.6.1 Unripened cheese — 1,500 mg/kg 01.6.4 Processed cheese — 30,000 mg/kg 01.7 Dairy-based desserts (e.g. pudding, fruit or flavoured yoghurt) — 2,000 mg/kg 02.2.2 Fat spreads, dairy fat spreads and blended spreads — 100 mg/kg 02.3 Fat emulsions mainly of type oil-in-water, including mixed and/or flavoured products based on fat emulsions — 100 mg/kg 02.4 Fat-based desserts excluding dairy-based dessert products of food category 01.7 — 100 mg/kg 03.0 Edible ices, including sherbet and sorbet — 4,000 mg/kg 04.1.2.11 Fruit fillings for pastries — 10,000 mg/kg 04.1.2.3 Fruit in vinegar, oil, or brine — 1,000 mg/kg 04.1.2.5 — 3,000 mg/kg 04.1.2.6 Fruit-based spreads (e.g. chutney) excluding products of food category — 3,000 mg/kg 04.1.2.7 Candied fruit — 20,000 mg/kg 04.1.2.9 Fruit-based desserts, incl. fruit-flavoured water-based desserts — 1,000 mg/kg 04.2.2.3 Vegetables (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), and seaweeds in vinegar, oil, brine, or soybean sauce — 15,000 mg/kg 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 — 1,300 mg/kg 05.1.1 Cocoa mixes (powders) and cocoa mass/cake — 5,000 mg/kg 05.1.2 Cocoa mixes (syrups) — 2,000 mg/kg 05.1.3 Cocoa-based spreads, incl. fillings — 2,000 mg/kg 05.1.4 Cocoa and chocolate products — 5,000 mg/kg 05.1.5 Imitation chocolate, chocolate substitute products — 5,000 mg/kg 05.2 Confectionery including hard and soft candy, nougats, etc. other than food categories 05.1, 05.3, and 05.4 — 5,000 mg/kg 05.3 Chewing gum — 30,000 mg/kg 05.4 Decorations (e.g. for fine bakery wares), toppings (non-fruit), and sweet sauces — 8,000 mg/kg 06.2.1 Flours — 5,000 mg/kg 06.2.2 Starches — 2,000 mg/kg 06.4.1 Fresh pastas and noodles and like products — 5,000 mg/kg 06.4.3 Pre-cooked pastas and noodles and like products — 7,500 mg/kg 06.5 Cereal and starch based desserts (e.g. rice pudding, tapioca pudding) — 2,860 mg/kg 07.1 Bread and ordinary bakery wares and mixes — 4,000 mg/kg 07.2.1 Cakes, cookies and pies (e.g. fruit-filled or custard types) — 5,000 mg/kg 07.2.2 Other fine bakery products (e.g. doughnuts, sweet rolls, scones, and muffins) — 500 mg/kg 07.2.3 Mixes for fine bakery wares (e.g. cakes, pancakes) — 8,000 mg/kg 08.3.1 Non-heat treated processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products — 500 mg/kg 08.3.2 Heat-treated processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products — 500 mg/kg 08.3.3 Frozen processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products — 500 mg/kg 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings) — 2,000 mg/kg 09.2.5 Smoked, dried, fermented, and/or salted fish and fish products, including molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms — 200 mg/kg 10.4 Egg-based desserts (e.g. custard) — 2,000 mg/kg 11.6 Table-top sweeteners, including those containing high-intensity sweeteners — 2,000 mg/kg 12.2.2 Seasonings and condiments — 7,500 mg/kg 12.4 Mustards — 5,000 mg/kg 12.5 Soups and broths — 5,000 mg/kg 12.6.1 Emulsified sauces and dips (e.g. mayonnaise, salad dressing, onion dips) — 2,000 mg/kg 12.6.2 Non-emulsified sauces (e.g. ketchup, cheese sauce, cream sauce, brown gravy) — 5,000 mg/kg 12.6.3 Mixes for sauces and gravies — 5,000 mg/kg 12.9.1 Fermented soybean paste (e.g. miso) — 1,000 mg/kg 13.2 Complementary foods for infants and young children — 5,000 mg/kg 13.6 Food supplements — 5,000 mg/kg 14.1.2.1 Fruit juice — 4,000 mg/kg 14.1.2.3 Concentrates for fruit juice — 4,000 mg/kg 14.1.3.1 Fruit nectar — 4,000 mg/kg 14.1.3.3 Concentrates for fruit nectar — 4,000 mg/kg 14.1.3.4 Concentrates for vegetable nectar — 1,600 mg/kg 14.1.4 Water-based flavoured drinks, including "sport," “energy,” or "electrolyte" drinks and particulated drinks — 800 mg/kg 14.2.1 Beer and malt beverages — 2,000 mg/kg 14.2.2 Cider and perry — 2,000 mg/kg 14.2.3 Grape wines — GMP 14.2.4 Wines (other than grape) — 4,000 mg/kg 14.2.6 Distilled spirituous beverages containing more than 15% alcohol — 3,000 mg/kg 14.2.7 Aromatized alcoholic beverages (e.g. beer, wine and spirituous cooler-type beverages, low-alcoholic refreshers) — 4,000 mg/kg 15.0 Ready-to-eat savouries — 2,000 mg/kg	CXS 192-1995 Table One, INS 334and 62 further provisionsretrieved 2026-09-07

What it is made from

Recovered from the deposits left in wine barrels and from grape pomace, a by-product of winemaking. That origin is why it is one of the few common acids not made by fermentation or petrochemistry.

Vegan
Vegetarian

CAS registry number: 87-69-4
InChIKey: FEWJPZIEWOKRBE-JCYAYHJZSA-N
PubChem: CID 444305

Every name it appears under

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

E number

E334

INS number

CAS registry number

133-37-9
87-69-4

As it appears in regulation

Tartaric acid

Other names

(+)-(2R,3R)-Tartaric acid
(+)-(R,R)-Tartaric acid
(+)-L-Tartaric acid
(+)-Tartaric acid
(+)-Weinsaeure
(+/-)-Tartaric Acid
(2R,3R)-(+)-Tartaric acid
(2R,3R)-2,3-Dihydroxybernsteinsaeure
(2R,3R)-2,3-dihydroxybutanedioic acid
(2R,3R)-2,3-dihydroxysuccinic acid
(2R,3R)-rel-2,3-Dihydroxysuccinic acid
(2R,3R)-Tartaric acid
(R,R)-(+)-Tartaric acid
(R,R)-Tartaric acid
(R,R)-tartrate
1,2-Dihydroxyethane-1,2-dicarboxylic acid
2,3-Dihydroxysuccinic Acid
28959-58-2 (NH4-Na(1:1:1) salt(R*,R*)-(+-)-
3095-65-6 (mono-NH4 salt(R-(R*,R*))-
3164-34-9 (Ca salt (R-R*,R*)-
Acidum tartaricum
BAROS COMPONENT TARTARIC ACID
Butanedioic acid, 2,3-dihydroxy- (2R,3R)-
Butanedioic acid, 2,3-dihydroxy- (R-(R*,R*))-
Butanedioic acid, 2,3-dihydroxy-, (2R,3R)-rel-
d-alpha,beta-Dihydroxysuccinic acid
d-α,β-dihydroxy succinic acid
Dextrotartaric acid
E 334
FEMA No. 3044
INS NO.334
INS-334
Kyselina 2,3-dihydroxybutandiova [Czech]
Kyselina vinna
L(+)-Tartaric acid
L-(+)-Tartaric acid
L-2,3-dihydroxybutanedioic acid
L-2,3-DIHYDROXYSUCCINIC ACID
L-tartarate
L-tartaric acid
L-threaric acid
Natural tartaric acid
Rechtsweinsaeure
Resolvable tartaric acid
RR-tartaric acid
TARAC
tartaric acid
TARTARIC ACID (EP MONOGRAPH)
TARTARIC ACID (II)
Tartaric acid (L(+)-)
TARTARIC ACID (USP-RS)
Tartaric acid (VAN)
TARTARIC ACID COMPONENT OF BAROS
tartaric acid, (R-(R*,R*))-
tartaric acid, l
Tartaric acid, L-
TARTARICUM ACIDUM
TARTRATES
Threaric acid
Weinsaeure
Weinsteinsaeure

Systematic names

(2R,3R)-2,3-Dihydroxysuccinic acid

Hazard reference values

Values set by assessing bodies. A body that has not set a value is not listed here.
Type	Value	Population	Assessed by	Opinion
ADI	240 mg/kg bw/day	consumers	EFSA	not identified in the dataset

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/tartaric-acid.json