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Modified starch (E14xx)

Table v1.3 (data as of 14 Aug 2026), page updated 26 Sep 2026

Modified starch is the thickener the food industry lists as E14xx. In our table it is no risk identified: it takes no points off a product's score.

In short
  • The key finding, from EFSA: Re-evaluation of modified starches E 1404, 1410, 1412, 1413, 1414, 1420, 1422, 1440, 1442, 1450, 1451, 1452: previous ADI 'not specified' upheld, no need for a numerical ADI, no safety concern at reported uses and use levels for the general population; modified starches are hydrolysed by intestinal enzymes and fermented by the microbiota rather than absorbed intact (10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4911 (PMC7009865))
  • 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 404 of the 10,000 packaged foods scanned most on Open Food Facts, most often in sauces, yogurts and ready meals. Nine in ten of those foods are sold in Europe (counted 26 Sep 2026).
  • 3 citations from EFSA and Open Food Facts, each one below.

What Modified starch 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. Modified starch 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.

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Scan a packaged food and Sito names the additives in it, then scores the product out of 100 for your child's age.

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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 10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4911 (PMC7009865)
    Re-evaluation of modified starches E 1404, 1410, 1412, 1413, 1414, 1420, 1422, 1440, 1442, 1450, 1451, 1452: previous ADI 'not specified' upheld, no need for a numerical ADI, no safety concern at reported uses and use levels for the general population; modified starches are hydrolysed by intestinal enzymes and fermented by the microbiota rather than absorbed intact.
  • EFSA 10.2903/j.efsa.2020.5874
    Follow-up on starch sodium octenyl succinate (E 1450) in foods for infants below 16 weeks: available data did not allow an adequate safety assessment at authorised maximum use levels in infant formula (gastrointestinal symptoms reported).
  • Open Food Facts additives taxonomy node en:e14xx (live taxonomy, 683 nodes, verified 2026-08-10)
    OFF names this node 'E14XX - Modified Starch'; there is no 'en:e1499' node in the taxonomy, confirming that 'e14xx' is the correct E-number for this entry.

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 Modified starch (E14xx) 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: Re-evaluation of modified starches E 1404, 1410, 1412, 1413, 1414, 1420, 1422, 1440, 1442, 1450, 1451, 1452: previous ADI 'not specified' upheld, no need for a numerical ADI, no safety concern at reported uses and use levels for the general population; modified starches are hydrolysed by intestinal enzymes and fermented by the microbiota rather than absorbed intact (EFSA, 10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4911 (PMC7009865)).

What is E14xx?

E14xx covers Modified starch as a group, a thickener. Our table also lists its forms one by one: E1422 and E1442. Open Food Facts tags it en:e14xx.

Next to it on the label

The E numbers either side of E14xx in our table, then the closest thickeners by number.

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