Sodium phosphates are the acidity regulators the food industry lists as E339. In our table they are high risk: they take 30 points off the additive subscore, which is worth a third of a product's score (about 10 of the 100).
- The key finding, from EFSA: Group ADI 40 mg P/kg bw/day; mean exposure may exceed the ADI in infants, toddlers and children (EFSA Journal 2019;17(6):5674, doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2019.5674)
- 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. They turn up in 44 of the 10,000 packaged foods scanned most on Open Food Facts, most often in cheese, yogurts and ready meals. Nine in ten of those foods are sold in Europe (counted 26 Sep 2026).
- 2 citations from EFSA, each one below.
What Sodium phosphates 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. Sodium phosphates take 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.
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
Journal 2019;17(6):5674 — doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2019.5674
Group ADI 40 mg P/kg bw/day; mean exposure may exceed the ADI in infants, toddlers and children. -
EFSA
news release 190612, 12 June 2019
EFSA recommends numerical maximum levels; ADI excludes reduced-kidney-function populations.
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IARC Group 1 or 2A with a dietary exposure route; or EFSA has withdrawn or negated a safety conclusion; or EFSA’s own exposure assessment finds a child age group exceeding the ADI at mean intake; or the substance is banned or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 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 Sodium phosphates (E339) 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: Group ADI 40 mg P/kg bw/day; mean exposure may exceed the ADI in infants, toddlers and children (EFSA Journal 2019;17(6):5674, doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2019.5674).
What is E339?
E339 is the E number for Sodium phosphates, which our table lists as an acidity regulator. Open Food Facts tags it en:e339.
Next to it on the label
The E numbers either side of E339 in our table, then the closest acidity regulators by number.
- L(+)-tartaric acid (E334), no risk identified
- Potassium tartrates (E336), no risk identified
- Phosphoric acid (E338), high risk, flagged for young children
- Potassium phosphates (E340), high risk, flagged for young children
- Calcium phosphates (E341), high risk, flagged for young children
- Magnesium phosphates (E343), high risk, flagged for young children