Sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate (E481)

Sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate is the emulsifier the food industry lists as E481. 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).

What Sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate 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 stearoyl-2-lactylate 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.

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.2013.3144
  Re-evaluation of sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate (E 481) and calcium stearoyl-2-lactylate (E 482): ADI of 22 mg/kg bw per day established for E 481/E 482 singly or in combination, from a 1-year rat NOAEL of 2,200 mg/kg bw per day with an uncertainty factor of 100.
• EFSA 10.2903/j.efsa.2013.3144 (exposure conclusion)
  Verbatim: exposure 'is below the ADI of 22 mg/kg bw/day for all the adult population including the elderly, but exceeds the ADI for other groups of the population at mean level and for all groups of the population at high level' - i.e. children exceed at the mean, with combined SSL+CSL exposure of 28-81 mg/kg bw/day for children at the mean. Main sources: flavoured fermented milk products, bread and rolls, fine bakery wares.
• EFSA 10.2903/j.efsa.2013.3125
  Companion EFSA statement on the exposure assessment of SSL/CSL (including the extension of authorisation), reporting high-level toddler and child intake estimates well above the 22 mg/kg bw per day ADI.

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IARC Group 1 or 2A with a dietary exposure route; or EFSA has withdrawn or negated a safety conclusion; or EFSA’s own exposure assessment finds a child age group exceeding the ADI at mean intake; or the substance is banned or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

Is Sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate (E481) 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: Re-evaluation of sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate (E 481) and calcium stearoyl-2-lactylate (E 482): ADI of 22 mg/kg bw per day established for E 481/E 482 singly or in combination, from a 1-year rat NOAEL of 2,200 mg/kg bw per day with an uncertainty factor of 100 (EFSA, 10.2903/j.efsa.2013.3144).

What is E481?

E481 is the E number for Sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate, an emulsifier. Open Food Facts tags it en:e481.

Next to it on the label

The E numbers either side of E481 in our table, then the closest emulsifiers by number.

• Sucrose esters of fatty acids (E473), high risk, flagged for young children
• Sucroglycerides (E474), high risk, flagged for young children
• Polyglycerol esters of fatty acids (E475), no risk identified
• PGPR (E476), no risk identified
• propylene glycol esters (E477), no risk identified
• Calcium stearoyl-2-lactylate (E482), high risk, flagged for young children