Magnesium salts of fatty acids are the emulsifiers the food industry lists as E470b. In our table they are no risk identified: they take no points off a product's score.
- The key finding, from EFSA: 'The Panel concluded that there was no need for a numerical ADI and that the food additives sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium salts of fatty acids (E 470a and E 470b) were of no safety concern at the reported uses and use levels.' No concern for mutagenicity of magnesium stearate; the salts dissociate in the gut to fatty acid carboxylates and their corresponding cations (10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5180 (EFSA Journal 2018;16(3):5180, PMC7009523, Re-evaluation of sodium, potassium and calcium salts of fatty acids (E 470a) and magnesium salts of fatty acids (E 470b) as food additives))
- No child flag. The class, and the points it costs, are the same for a child of any age.
- Where you meet it. They turn up in 8 of the 10,000 packaged foods scanned most on Open Food Facts, most often in candy. Nine in ten of those foods are sold in Europe (counted 26 Sep 2026).
- 3 citations from EFSA, the FDA and EU law, each one below.
What Magnesium salts of fatty acids do 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. Magnesium salts of fatty acids take 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
10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5180 (EFSA Journal 2018;16(3):5180, PMC7009523 — Re-evaluation of sodium, potassium and calcium salts of fatty acids (E 470a) and magnesium salts of fatty acids (E 470b) as food additives)
'The Panel concluded that there was no need for a numerical ADI and that the food additives sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium salts of fatty acids (E 470a and E 470b) were of no safety concern at the reported uses and use levels.' No concern for mutagenicity of magnesium stearate; the salts dissociate in the gut to fatty acid carboxylates and their corresponding cations. -
FDA
21 CFR 184.1440 (Magnesium stearate) — Part 184 "Direct Food Substances Affirmed as Generally Recognized as Safe"; verified against the current eCFR structure
Magnesium stearate, the principal E 470b species, is affirmed GRAS as a direct human food substance in the US. -
EU law
Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 Annex II, consolidated text 02008R1333 — EN — 16.12.2024 — 059.001 (EUR-Lex ELI: reg/2008/1333)
E 470b authorised in the EU as a Group I additive at quantum satis.
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
Are Magnesium salts of fatty acids (E470b) 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: 'The Panel concluded that there was no need for a numerical ADI and that the food additives sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium salts of fatty acids (E 470a and E 470b) were of no safety concern at the reported uses and use levels.' No concern for mutagenicity of magnesium stearate; the salts dissociate in the gut to fatty acid carboxylates and their corresponding cations (EFSA, 10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5180 (EFSA Journal 2018;16(3):5180, PMC7009523, Re-evaluation of sodium, potassium and calcium salts of fatty acids (E 470a) and magnesium salts of fatty acids (E 470b) as food additives)).
What is E470b?
E470b is the E number for Magnesium salts of fatty acids, which our table lists as an emulsifier. It shares the E470 number with E470a in our table. Open Food Facts tags it en:e470b.
Next to it on the label
The E numbers either side of E470b in our table, then the closest emulsifiers by number.
- Sodium, potassium and calcium salts of fatty acids (E470a), no risk identified
- Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (E471), no risk identified
- Esters of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (E472), no risk identified
- ACETEM (E472a), no risk identified
- Lactic acid esters of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (E472b), no risk identified
- CITREM (E472c), no risk identified