Konjac (E425): What the Sources Found

Konjac is the thickener the food industry lists as E425. In our table it is moderate risk: it takes 15 of the 33 additive points off a product's score for a child.

In short

Moderate risk. 15 of the 33 additive points come off a product that carries it.
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 one class up.
2 citations from Law, each one below.

What Konjac does to a score

A packaged food starts with 33 points for what is in its ingredient list. Konjac takes 15 of the 33 additive points off a product's score, 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. They are quoted as the source wrote them.

Law Commission Directive 2003/52/EC (CELEX 32003L0052) - EU legal instrument
Permanently withdrew the authorisation of E 425 konjac in jelly confectionery including jelly mini-cups by amending Annex IV to Directive 95/2/EC; recital 2 states the products 'have been found to be dangerous as they have caused the death of several children and elderly persons in third countries through choking'. Member States to comply by 17 January 2004.
Law Commission Decision 2002/247/EC (CELEX 32002D0247); European Commission press release IP/02/435
Preceding EU emergency measure suspending the placing on the market and import of jelly confectionery containing E 425 konjac, on choking-risk grounds; parallel bans were adopted in the US, Canada and Australia.

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.