Carnauba wax is the additive the food industry lists as E903. In our table it is no risk identified: it takes no points off a product's score.
- The key finding, from EFSA: No ADI set (long-term data lacking); subchronic and reproductive/developmental studies showed no adverse effects; exposure gives sufficient margins of safety, so authorised uses are not of safety concern (EFSA Journal 2012;10(10):2880, doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2880, Re-evaluation of carnauba wax (E 903))
- 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 30 of the 10,000 packaged foods scanned most on Open Food Facts, most often in candy and chocolate. Nine in ten of those foods are sold in Europe (counted 26 Sep 2026).
- 1 citation from EFSA, each one below.
What Carnauba wax 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. Carnauba wax 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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EFSA
Journal 2012;10(10):2880 — doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2880, Re-evaluation of carnauba wax (E 903)
No ADI set (long-term data lacking); subchronic and reproductive/developmental studies showed no adverse effects; exposure gives sufficient margins of safety, so authorised uses are not of safety concern.
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 Carnauba wax (E903) 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: No ADI set (long-term data lacking); subchronic and reproductive/developmental studies showed no adverse effects; exposure gives sufficient margins of safety, so authorised uses are not of safety concern (EFSA Journal 2012;10(10):2880, doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2880, Re-evaluation of carnauba wax (E 903)).
What is E903?
E903 is the E number for Carnauba wax, an additive. Open Food Facts tags it en:e903.
Next to it on the label
The E numbers either side of E903 in our table, then the closest additives of the same kind by number.
- Dimethylpolysiloxane and methylphenylpolysiloxane (E900), no risk identified
- White and yellow beeswax (E901), no risk identified
- Shellac (E904), no risk identified
- Synthetic wax (E905), no risk identified
- Montanic acid esters (E912), no risk identified
- Oxidised polyethylene wax (E914), no risk identified