Azodicarbonamide and carbamide is the additive the food industry lists as E927. In our table it is low risk: it takes 6 points off the additive subscore (about 2 of the 100).
- The key finding, from the FDA: Azodicarbonamide (E 927a) is permitted in the US as an ageing/bleaching ingredient in cereal flour and as a dough conditioner at up to 45 ppm, the use behind the overwhelming majority of the bare en:e927 tags in this corpus, which is why the parent follows E 927a (21 CFR 172.806 and 21 CFR 137.105 (eCFR))
- Flagged for young children. Set only where EFSA’s own exposure assessment shows toddlers or children exceeding or approaching the ADI, or where a regulator used explicitly child-specific language. For a child under 6 it moves up one class, to moderate risk.
- 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).
- 3 citations from the FDA, EU law and US state law, each one below.
What Azodicarbonamide and carbamide 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. Azodicarbonamide and carbamide takes 6 points off the additive subscore (about 2 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.
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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FDA
21 CFR 172.806 and 21 CFR 137.105 (eCFR)
Azodicarbonamide (E 927a) is permitted in the US as an ageing/bleaching ingredient in cereal flour and as a dough conditioner at up to 45 ppm — the use behind the overwhelming majority of the bare en:e927 tags in this corpus, which is why the parent follows E 927a. -
EU law
Commission Regulation (EU) No 1129/2011 (Annex II Part B of Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008); Commission Directive 2004/1/EC
The two children sit on opposite sides of EU law: E 927b carbamide is authorised (chewing gum with no added sugar), while E 927a azodicarbonamide has no authorised EU food use and was separately prohibited by name in food-contact plastics from 2005-08-02. The split is real, which is why this node needs an explicit default rather than a family verdict. -
US state law
US-TX: S.B. 314 (2025); US-LA: S.B. 14 / Act 463 (2025)
Both school-meal statutes name azodicarbonamide — the sub-form a bare en:e927 tag overwhelmingly resolves to — so the parent carries the same child flag as en:e927a; see that row for the full citation.
Why this class
A credible adverse or precautionary signal that stops short of every Moderate and High criterion: peer-reviewed adverse findings not yet reflected in regulatory status, an exposure exceedance confined to high-percentile or single-event estimates, or a precautionary regulatory step short of those criteria, a reduced ADI, a data limitation noted without an adverse conclusion, a narrowed or conditioned authorisation, or a child-focused assessment or school-food law that covers the additive as part of a class.
Our confidence in this row's classification is low. 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 Azodicarbonamide and carbamide (E927) safe for kids?
Low risk. In Sito it takes 6 points off the additive subscore (about 2 of the 100). It is flagged for young children, so for a child under 6 it moves up one class, to moderate risk: 15 points off the additive subscore. The finding we rely on: Azodicarbonamide (E 927a) is permitted in the US as an ageing/bleaching ingredient in cereal flour and as a dough conditioner at up to 45 ppm, the use behind the overwhelming majority of the bare en:e927 tags in this corpus, which is why the parent follows E 927a (FDA, 21 CFR 172.806 and 21 CFR 137.105 (eCFR)).
What is E927?
E927 covers Azodicarbonamide and carbamide as a group, an additive. Our table also lists its forms one by one: E927a and E927b. Open Food Facts tags it en:e927.
Next to it on the label
The E numbers either side of E927 in our table, then the closest additives of the same kind by number.
- L-cysteine (E920), no risk identified
- Potassium bromate (E924a), high risk
- Chlorine dioxide (E926), no risk identified
- Azodicarbonamide (E927a), low risk, flagged for young children
- urea (E927b), no risk identified
- Calcium peroxide (E930), no risk identified