Fumaric acid is the acidity regulator the food industry lists as E297. In our table it is no risk identified: it takes no points off a product's score.
- The key finding, from EFSA: Both additives entered the re-evaluation programme in 2024; no safety conclusion published as of Aug 2026 (EFSA call for data (July 2024), background document for the re-evaluation of fumaric acid (E 297) and succinic acid (E 363))
- 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 EFSA and the FDA, each one below.
What Fumaric 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. Fumaric 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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EFSA
call for data (July 2024) — background document for the re-evaluation of fumaric acid (E 297) and succinic acid (E 363)
Both additives entered the re-evaluation programme in 2024; no safety conclusion published as of Aug 2026. -
FDA
Substances Added to Food inventory — fumaric acid
Permitted US food additive / GRAS use as an acidulant; no restriction tied to children.
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 Fumaric acid (E297) 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: Permitted US food additive / GRAS use as an acidulant; no restriction tied to children (FDA Substances Added to Food inventory, fumaric acid).
What is E297?
E297 is the E number for Fumaric acid, an acidity regulator. Open Food Facts tags it en:e297.
Next to it on the label
The E numbers either side of E297 in our table, then the closest acidity regulators by number.
- Lactic acid (E270), no risk identified
- Malic acid (E296), no risk identified
- Ascorbic acid (E300), no risk identified
- Sodium lactate (E325), no risk identified
- Potassium lactate (E326), no risk identified
- Calcium lactate (E327), no risk identified