Polysorbate 80 (E433)

Names on a label

• E433
• E 433
• Polysorbate 80

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: color or coloring adjunct; emulsifier or emulsifier salt; flavor enhancer; flavoring agent or adjuvant; solvent or vehicle; stabilizer or thickener; surface-active agent.¹

What regulators and scientists say

• EFSA set an acceptable daily intake of 25 mg per kilogram of body weight per day (June 10, 2015). For a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, that’s about 1.8 g a day.²
• The FDA permits it as a color additive by regulation (21 CFR 73.1).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