Glycerol esters of wood rosin is the emulsifier the food industry lists as E445. In our table it is no risk identified: it takes no points off a product's score.
- The key finding, from EFSA: ADI of 10 mg/kg bw per day established (NOAEL 976 mg/kg bw per day, UF 100); toddler exposure 1.07 mg/kg bw per day mean and 4.06 at P95, children 0.09-1.01 mean and 0.46-3.24 at P95; 'no safety concern for the use of GEWR (E 445), at either the maximum permitted levels or at the reported uses and use levels' (PMC10355140, Follow-up of the re-evaluation of glycerol esters of wood rosins (E 445))
- 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 24 of the 10,000 packaged foods scanned most on Open Food Facts, most often in soft drinks and juice drinks. Nine in ten of those foods are sold in Europe (counted 26 Sep 2026).
- 1 citation from EFSA, each one below.
What Glycerol esters of wood rosin 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. Glycerol esters of wood rosin 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.
-
EFSA
PMC10355140 - Follow-up of the re-evaluation of glycerol esters of wood rosins (E 445)
ADI of 10 mg/kg bw per day established (NOAEL 976 mg/kg bw per day, UF 100); toddler exposure 1.07 mg/kg bw per day mean and 4.06 at P95, children 0.09-1.01 mean and 0.46-3.24 at P95; 'no safety concern for the use of GEWR (E 445), at either the maximum permitted levels or at the reported uses and use levels'.
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 Glycerol esters of wood rosin (E445) 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 10 mg/kg bw per day established (NOAEL 976 mg/kg bw per day, UF 100); toddler exposure 1.07 mg/kg bw per day mean and 4.06 at P95, children 0.09-1.01 mean and 0.46-3.24 at P95; 'no safety concern for the use of GEWR (E 445), at either the maximum permitted levels or at the reported uses and use levels' (EFSA, PMC10355140, Follow-up of the re-evaluation of glycerol esters of wood rosins (E 445)).
What is E445?
E445 is the E number for Glycerol esters of wood rosin, an emulsifier. Open Food Facts tags it en:e445.
Next to it on the label
The E numbers either side of E445 in our table, then the closest emulsifiers by number.
- Polysorbate 60 (E435), low risk, flagged for young children
- Polysorbate 65 (E436), low risk, flagged for young children
- Ammonium phosphatides (E442), no risk identified
- BVO (E443), high risk
- Sucrose acetate isobutyrate (E444), no risk identified
- Diphosphates (E450), high risk, flagged for young children