Acetic acid is the acidity regulator the food industry lists as E260. In our table it is no risk identified: it takes no points off a product's score.
- The key finding, from the FDA: GRAS direct food substance (pH control, flavouring) (FDA Substances Added to Food inventory, acetic acid)
- No child flag. The class, and the points it costs, are the same for a child of any age.
- Where you meet it. It turns up in 21 of the 10,000 packaged foods scanned most on Open Food Facts, most often in sauces and ready meals. Nine in ten of those foods are sold in Europe (counted 26 Sep 2026).
- 2 citations from the FDA and EU law, each one below.
What Acetic acid does to a score
A packaged food's additive subscore starts at 100 and loses points for each additive on the label; that subscore is a third of the final score. Acetic acid takes no points off a product's score. Scan the pack in Sito and the score you get is the one for your own child's age, with this additive named in the reasons. How we score has the whole method.
See what is in your own cupboard
Scan a packaged food and Sito names the additives in it, then scores the product out of 100 for your child's age.
What the sources found
Every classification in our table comes from the citations below, and nothing else. Each finding is our one-line summary of what the source concluded, with the source and reference beside it.
-
FDA
Substances Added to Food inventory — acetic acid
GRAS direct food substance (pH control, flavouring). -
EU law
Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 Annex II
E 260 authorised as a Group I additive at quantum satis in the EU.
Why this class
Clean current EFSA and FDA status. These rows exist so that an unfamiliar additive is never treated as a bad one: a missing row costs a product nothing, and a clean row says so with citations.
Our confidence in this row's classification is high. Medium or low does not mean the evidence is weak; it means something about the row is still being pinned down, usually a regulatory status confirmed from one source rather than two.
Questions parents ask
Is Acetic acid (E260) safe for kids?
No risk identified. No regulator finding we score, so a product keeps its full additive subscore in Sito. The current status is clean: GRAS direct food substance (pH control, flavouring) (FDA Substances Added to Food inventory, acetic acid).
What is E260?
E260 is the E number for Acetic acid, an acidity regulator. Open Food Facts tags it en:e260.
Next to it on the label
The E numbers either side of E260 in our table, then the closest acidity regulators by number.
- Potassium nitrate (E252), high risk, flagged for young children
- Potassium acetate (E261), no risk identified
- Sodium acetates (E262), no risk identified
- Lactic acid (E270), no risk identified
- Malic acid (E296), no risk identified
- Fumaric acid (E297), no risk identified