BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) (E321)

Names on a label

• E321
• E 321
• BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene)
• Butylated Hydroxytoluene

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

What regulators and scientists say

• EFSA set an acceptable daily intake of 0.25 mg per kilogram of body weight per day (February 15, 2012). For a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, that’s about 18 mg a day.¹
• The FDA permits it as a food additive by regulation (21 CFR 172.110, 172.115, 172.185).²
• IARC classifies it as not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans (Group 3, 1987).³

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.”⁴

IARC’s groups “indicate the strength of the evidence as to whether an agent is capable of causing cancer,” but they don’t measure how likely cancer is at a given level of exposure.⁵