Sodium stearoyl lactylate (E481)

Names on a label

• E481
• E 481
• Sodium stearoyl lactylate

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: dough strengthener; emulsifier or emulsifier salt; firming agent; flour treating agent; oxidizing or reducing agent; stabilizer or thickener; surface-active agent.¹

What regulators and scientists say

• EFSA set an acceptable daily intake of 22 mg per kilogram of body weight per day (March 13, 2013). For a 70 kg (154 lb) adult, that’s about 1.5 g a day.²
• The FDA permits it as a food additive by regulation (21 CFR 172.846).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