Food additives in Canada
Health Canada
Canada runs a positive list, published as fifteen Lists of Permitted Food Additives. The Food and Drug Regulations permit a food additive only as a list sets out, and the lists are incorporated into those Regulations by reference, so the published tables are the law rather than guidance about it.
Each list covers a purpose — colours, preservatives, sequestering agents, emulsifiers, and so on — and names the foods the additive may be used in and the maximum level. A substance may appear on several lists.
The lists name additives without E or INS numbers, so this site matches them by name.
What this index holds
390 of the 1189 substances on this site carry a Canada entry, across 2,425 provisions. Last retrieved 2026-10-17 from Health Canada Lists of Permitted Food Additives, under Open Government Licence – Canada.
- 269 permitted, with conditions
- 121 permitted
What is read, and what is not
Read:
- Lists 1–4 and 6–15, with each entry's foods, levels and conditions, and the item number as its citation.
Not read:
- List 5, food enzymes, which are authorised per source organism — a structure this site does not model.
- Marketing authorisations and interim authorisations that have not yet reached the published lists.
What an empty row means
A page with no Canada row may mean the substance is not on any list, or only that Health Canada names it differently from this site. Names that could not be matched are published, so the difference can be seen rather than guessed at.
The instruments
Elsewhere
Compare Canada with another regulator on the comparison pages, or read how the whole index is built in the method.