Sorbitan monostearate is the emulsifier the food industry lists as E491. In our table it is no risk identified: it takes no points off a product's score.
- The key finding, from EFSA: Re-evaluation of sorbitan esters E 491-E 495: group ADI of 10 mg/kg bw per day expressed as sorbitan; under the refined non-brand-loyal scenario 'the mean and the 95th percentile level did not exceed the ADI in any of the population groups'; no safety concern at reported use levels (10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4788 (PMC7010202))
- 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 5 of the 10,000 packaged foods scanned most on Open Food Facts. Nine in ten of those foods are sold in Europe (counted 26 Sep 2026).
- 2 citations from EFSA, each one below.
What Sorbitan monostearate 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. Sorbitan monostearate 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
10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4788 (PMC7010202)
Re-evaluation of sorbitan esters E 491-E 495: group ADI of 10 mg/kg bw per day expressed as sorbitan; under the refined non-brand-loyal scenario 'the mean and the 95th percentile level did not exceed the ADI in any of the population groups'; no safety concern at reported use levels. -
EFSA
10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4788 (maximum-level scenario tables)
Under the regulatory maximum-level scenario, toddler exposure was 26.1-88.9 mg/kg bw per day at the mean and 80.1-211.2 at P95, and children 21.4-78.4 mean / 54-183.4 P95 - above the group ADI, but EFSA judged this scenario not the relevant one.
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 Sorbitan monostearate (E491) 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 sorbitan esters E 491-E 495: group ADI of 10 mg/kg bw per day expressed as sorbitan; under the refined non-brand-loyal scenario 'the mean and the 95th percentile level did not exceed the ADI in any of the population groups'; no safety concern at reported use levels (EFSA, 10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4788 (PMC7010202)).
What is E491?
E491 is the E number for Sorbitan monostearate, an emulsifier. Open Food Facts tags it en:e491.
Next to it on the label
The E numbers either side of E491 in our table, then the closest emulsifiers by number.
- Polyglycerol esters of fatty acids (E475), no risk identified
- PGPR (E476), no risk identified
- propylene glycol esters (E477), no risk identified
- Sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate (E481), high risk, flagged for young children
- Calcium stearoyl-2-lactylate (E482), high risk, flagged for young children
- Sorbitan tristearate (E492), no risk identified