Sodium Nitrate 硝酸ナトリウム

In Japan

• In meat products and whale meat bacon it is used as a color fixative, and in the production of cheese and sake it is used to regulate fermentation (as a fermentation control agent). For meat products, the upper limit is set not on the amount used but on the amount remaining as nitrite ion.
• When used as a color fixative, it must be written together with its purpose name, as in “発色剤（硝酸Na）” (color fixative (sodium nitrate)). Its short name is “硝酸Na” (sodium nitrate).

Japan's standards for use

• Meat products and whale meat bacon: maximum residue less than 0.070 g/kg as nitrite ion
• Cheese: 0.20 g per 1 L of milk used as raw material
• Sake (清酒): 0.10 g per 1 L of sake starter (酒母)
• Standards shared with potassium nitrate

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 E251.
• In its 2017 evaluation, EFSA (the European Food Safety Authority) set an ADI (acceptable daily intake) of 3.7mg per kg of body weight per day (EFSA ANS).

When it is labeled under a shared name

Sodium Nitrate may be declared on the label in the same way as “発色剤（亜硝酸Na）”. See Color fixative (sodium nitrite) 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・ばら売りの表示） (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.

Other substances used as color fixative, fermentation aid

• Potassium Nitrate