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Potassium benzoate (E212)

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

Potassium benzoate is the preservative the food industry lists as E212. In our table it is high risk: it takes 30 points off the additive subscore, which is worth a third of a product's score (about 10 of the 100).

In short
  • The key finding, from EFSA: E212 is covered by the 5 mg/kg bw/day group ADI; exceedance identified specifically for toddlers and children (10.2903/j.efsa.2016.4433)
  • 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. It is already in our top class, so the flag cannot move it higher.
  • Where you meet it. It turns up in 4 of the 10,000 packaged foods scanned most on Open Food Facts, most often in soft drinks. Nine in ten of those foods are sold in Europe (counted 26 Sep 2026).
  • 3 citations from EFSA, peer-reviewed research and Open Food Facts, each one below.

What Potassium benzoate 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. Potassium benzoate takes 30 points off the additive subscore, which is worth a third of a product's score (about 10 of the 100). 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.

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Sito app: a cereal scored 30 out of 100 for a child's age Sito app: logging a child's meal from a photo

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.2016.4433
    E212 is covered by the 5 mg/kg bw/day group ADI; exceedance identified specifically for toddlers and children.
  • Peer-reviewed McCann et al., Lancet 2007; doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61306-3
    Benzoate-containing challenge mixes increased hyperactivity in 3-year-olds and 8/9-year-olds (mixture effect, not benzoate-specific).
  • Open Food Facts additives taxonomy node en:e212
    Cross-check only: OFF flags the same high overexposure risk with children/toddlers/infants among the exceeding groups.

Why this class

IARC Group 1 or 2A with a dietary exposure route; or EFSA has withdrawn or negated a safety conclusion; or EFSA’s own exposure assessment finds a child age group exceeding the ADI at mean intake; or the substance is banned or formally being phased out for food use by the EU, by the US FDA, or under a US state law.

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 Potassium benzoate (E212) safe for kids?

High risk. In Sito it takes 30 points off the additive subscore, which is worth a third of a product's score (about 10 of the 100). It is flagged for young children, and it is already in our top class, so the flag cannot move it higher. The finding we rely on: E212 is covered by the 5 mg/kg bw/day group ADI; exceedance identified specifically for toddlers and children (EFSA, 10.2903/j.efsa.2016.4433).

What is E212?

E212 is the E number for Potassium benzoate, a preservative. Open Food Facts tags it en:e212.

Next to it on the label

The E numbers either side of E212 in our table, then the closest preservatives by number.

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