Food additive databasepreservativeChecked 2026-10-02
Benzoic Acid 安息香酸
Designated additivePermitted in the EU (E210)EFSA ADI 5mg per kg body weight per day
- Purpose
- preservative
- On the label
- “保存料（安息香酸）” (preservative (benzoic acid))
- Name in the List of Designated Additives
- 安息香酸 (No. 42)
In Japan
- A preservative. Under the standards for use, the foods where it can be used are limited to caviar, margarine, soft drinks, syrups, and soy sauce, with upper limits on the amount.
- When used as a preservative, the rules require writing it together with the purpose name, as in “保存料（安息香酸）” (preservative (benzoic acid)). Its sodium salt, sodium benzoate, is a separate item.
Japan's standards for use
- As benzoic acid: caviar, up to 2.5 g/kg
- Margarine, up to 1.0 g/kg (when used together with sorbic acids, the total of the amount as benzoic acid and the amount as sorbic acid must be up to 1.0 g/kg)
- Soft drinks, syrups, soy sauce, up to 0.60 g/kg
- For fruit paste and fruit juice used to make confectionery, only sodium benzoate may be used; benzoic acid cannot be used
This is a summary of the standards for use. See the source list for the exact conditions.
In the EU
- It is on the EU list of food additives (Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, Annex II) as E210.
- In its 2016 evaluation, EFSA (the European Food Safety Authority) set an ADI (acceptable daily intake) of 5mg per kg of body weight per day (a group ADI, for the total of related substances) (EFSA ANS).
When it is labeled under a shared name
Benzoic Acid may be declared on the label in the same way as “安息香酸Na”. See Sodium benzoate (preservative) for details.
Sources
- List of Designated Additives — Japan Food Chemical Research Foundation (Japanese)
- Standards for use and storage of each additive — Japan Food Chemical Research Foundation (Japanese)
- EU food additive database (Japanese translation) — MAFF (Japanese)
- Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 on food additives — EUR-Lex
- EFSA OpenFoodTox (chemical hazards database)
- 消費者庁「食品表示基準について」別添 添加物関係（簡略名・用途名併記・一括名・栄養強化の範囲） (Japanese)
Checked 2026-10-02. Rules and evaluations change over time. This page is a translation of our Japanese page; if they differ, the Japanese page is the reference.
This page lists facts stated in laws and in evaluations by public bodies; it is not a safety verdict. Additives used in Japan are approved by the government, which sets the foods and amounts they can be used in. The ADI is a guide to the amount that is considered safe to take every day over a lifetime.