Lactic acid is the acidity regulator the food industry lists as E270. In our table it is no risk identified: it takes no points off a product's score.
- The key finding, from EU law: E 270 authorised at quantum satis generally, but only the L(+) form may be used in foods for infants and young children (Commission Directive 2006/125/EC on processed cereal-based foods and baby foods for infants and young children (EUR-Lex CELEX:32006L0125); Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 Annex II)
- 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 189 of the 10,000 packaged foods scanned most on Open Food Facts, most often in sauces, chips and margarines. Nine in ten of those foods are sold in Europe (counted 26 Sep 2026).
- 2 citations from EU law and the FDA, each one below.
What Lactic 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. Lactic 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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EU law
Commission Directive 2006/125/EC on processed cereal-based foods and baby foods for infants and young children (EUR-Lex CELEX:32006L0125); Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 Annex II
E 270 authorised at quantum satis generally, but only the L(+) form may be used in foods for infants and young children. -
FDA
Substances Added to Food inventory — lactic acid
GRAS direct food substance; US labelling does not distinguish the isomer.
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 Lactic acid (E270) 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: GRAS direct food substance; US labelling does not distinguish the isomer (FDA Substances Added to Food inventory, lactic acid).
What is E270?
E270 is the E number for Lactic acid, an acidity regulator. Open Food Facts tags it en:e270.
Next to it on the label
The E numbers either side of E270 in our table, then the closest acidity regulators by number.
- Acetic acid (E260), no risk identified
- Potassium acetate (E261), no risk identified
- Sodium acetates (E262), no risk identified
- Propionic acid (E280), low risk
- Malic acid (E296), no risk identified
- Fumaric acid (E297), no risk identified