Aluminium sulphate (E520)

Aluminium sulphate is the acidity regulator the food industry lists as E520. In our table it is moderate risk: it takes 15 points off the additive subscore, a third of a product's score (about 5 of the 100).

What Aluminium sulphate 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. Aluminium sulphate takes 15 points off the additive subscore, a third of a product's score (about 5 of the 100), and a child under 6 sees it one class higher again. 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.

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.

• EFSA Journal 2018;16(7):5372 — doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5372
  Aluminium sulphates E 520–523 of no safety concern at current EU authorised uses, which are niche; no genotoxicity or carcinogenicity concern; toddler/child P95 aluminium estimates up to 0.88 mg/kg bw/day judged highly uncertain.
• EU law Commission Regulation (EU) No 380/2012, EUR-Lex CELEX:32012R0380
  Restricted aluminium-containing additives for consumer protection on the basis that EFSA's 1 mg Al/kg bw/week TWI 'is generally exceeded for high consumers, especially children'.
• EFSA Journal 2008;6(7):754 — Safety of aluminium from dietary intake
  TWI 1 mg Al/kg bw/week; exceeded by a significant part of the EU population, children in particular.

Why this class

IARC Group 2B; or an EFSA re-evaluation that flagged genotoxicity data gaps, found safety could not be assessed on the available data, or cut the ADI citing child exposure; or an EU harmonised classification of the substance as a reproductive or developmental hazard; or an EU withdrawal of one authorised food use while others remain; or an OEHHA/Proposition 65 listing; or membership of the Southampton-six colourants.

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 Aluminium sulphate (E520) safe for kids?

Moderate risk. In Sito it takes 15 points off the additive subscore, a third of a product's score (about 5 of the 100). It is flagged for young children, so for a child under 6 it moves up one class, to high risk: 30 points off the additive subscore. The finding we rely on: Aluminium sulphates E 520 to 523 of no safety concern at current EU authorised uses, which are niche; no genotoxicity or carcinogenicity concern; toddler/child P95 aluminium estimates up to 0.88 mg/kg bw/day judged highly uncertain (EFSA Journal 2018;16(7):5372, doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5372).

What is E520?

E520 is the E number for Aluminium sulphate, an acidity regulator. Open Food Facts tags it en:e520.

Next to it on the label

The E numbers either side of E520 in our table, then the closest acidity regulators by number.

• Calcium sulphate (E516), no risk identified
• Ammonium sulphate (E517), no risk identified
• Aluminium sodium sulphate (E521), moderate risk, flagged for young children
• Aluminium potassium sulphate (E522), moderate risk, flagged for young children
• Aluminium ammonium sulphate (E523), moderate risk, flagged for young children
• Sodium hydroxide (E524), no risk identified