Adipic acid is the acidity regulator the food industry lists as E355. In our table it is no risk identified: it takes no points off a product's score.
- The key finding, from JECFA: ADI of 0 to 5 mg/kg bw established; JECFA notes hazard-assessment procedures have evolved since and additional data may now be available (JECFA evaluations, adipic acid (WHO/FAO JECFA database, chemical 194; ADI established at the 9th meeting, 1965))
- No child flag. The class, and the points it costs, are the same for a child of any age.
- Where you meet it. None of the 10,000 packaged foods scanned most on Open Food Facts list it. Nine in ten of those foods are sold in Europe (counted 26 Sep 2026).
- 2 citations from JECFA and EU law, each one below.
What Adipic 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. Adipic 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.
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Agency review
JECFA evaluations — adipic acid (WHO/FAO JECFA database, chemical 194; ADI established at the 9th meeting, 1965)
ADI of 0–5 mg/kg bw established; JECFA notes hazard-assessment procedures have evolved since and additional data may now be available. -
EU law
Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 Annex II
E 355 permitted in the EU only in fillings for bakery products, dessert mixes and drink powders, with individual maximum levels per use.
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 medium. 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 Adipic acid (E355) 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: ADI of 0 to 5 mg/kg bw established; JECFA notes hazard-assessment procedures have evolved since and additional data may now be available (JECFA evaluations, adipic acid (WHO/FAO JECFA database, chemical 194; ADI established at the 9th meeting, 1965)).
What is E355?
E355 is the E number for Adipic acid, an acidity regulator. Open Food Facts tags it en:e355.
Next to it on the label
The E numbers either side of E355 in our table, then the closest acidity regulators by number.
- Sodium phosphates (E339), high risk, flagged for young children
- Potassium phosphates (E340), high risk, flagged for young children
- Calcium phosphates (E341), high risk, flagged for young children
- Magnesium phosphates (E343), high risk, flagged for young children
- Sodium malates (E350), no risk identified
- Succinic acid (E363), no risk identified