TBHQ (E319)

Names on a label

• E319
• E 319
• TBHQ

Labels outside Europe often print the number on its own, without the E.

What it’s used for

The FDA lists these uses in food: antioxidant.¹

What regulators and scientists say

• EFSA set an acceptable daily intake of 0.7 mg per kilogram of body weight per day (December 9, 2015). For a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, that’s about 49 mg a day.²
• The FDA permits it as a food additive by regulation (21 CFR 172.185).¹

An acceptable daily intake is, in EFSA’s words, “an estimate of the amount of a substance in food or drinking water that can be consumed daily over a lifetime without presenting an appreciable risk to health.”³