Sodium ferrocyanide is the additive the food industry lists as E535. In our table it is no risk identified: it takes no points off a product's score.
- The key finding, from EFSA: Group ADI of 0.03 mg/kg bw/day as ferrocyanide ion; maximum-permitted-level exposure up to 0.009 and refined exposure ~0.003 mg/kg bw/day in children and adolescents; 'of no safety concern in these current authorised use and use levels' (EFSA Journal 2018;16(7):5374, doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5374, Re-evaluation of sodium ferrocyanide (E 535), potassium ferrocyanide (E 536) and calcium ferrocyanide (E 538))
- 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 11 of the 10,000 packaged foods scanned most on Open Food Facts, most often in sauces. Nine in ten of those foods are sold in Europe (counted 26 Sep 2026).
- 1 citation from EFSA, each one below.
What Sodium ferrocyanide 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. Sodium ferrocyanide 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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EFSA
Journal 2018;16(7):5374 — doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5374, Re-evaluation of sodium ferrocyanide (E 535), potassium ferrocyanide (E 536) and calcium ferrocyanide (E 538)
Group ADI of 0.03 mg/kg bw/day as ferrocyanide ion; maximum-permitted-level exposure up to 0.009 and refined exposure ~0.003 mg/kg bw/day in children and adolescents; 'of no safety concern in these current authorised use and use levels'.
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
Is Sodium ferrocyanide (E535) 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: Group ADI of 0.03 mg/kg bw/day as ferrocyanide ion; maximum-permitted-level exposure up to 0.009 and refined exposure ~0.003 mg/kg bw/day in children and adolescents; 'of no safety concern in these current authorised use and use levels' (EFSA Journal 2018;16(7):5374, doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5374, Re-evaluation of sodium ferrocyanide (E 535), potassium ferrocyanide (E 536) and calcium ferrocyanide (E 538)).
What is E535?
E535 is the E number for Sodium ferrocyanide, an additive. Open Food Facts tags it en:e535.
Next to it on the label
The E numbers either side of E535 in our table, then the closest additives of the same kind by number.
- Sodium hydroxide (E524), no risk identified
- Potassium ferrocyanide (E536), no risk identified
- Calcium ferrocyanide (E538), no risk identified
- Silicon dioxide (E551), no risk identified
- Calcium silicate (E552), moderate risk
- Magnesium silicates / talc (E553), moderate risk