Succinic acid is the acidity regulator the food industry lists as E363. In our table it is no risk identified: it takes no points off a product's score.
- The key finding, from JECFA: Natural constituent of plants and animals; tolerated at high dietary concentrations; does not represent a hazard at food-additive levels because of its normal metabolic role (JECFA evaluation, succinic acid (ADI 'not specified'))
- No child flag. The class, and the points it costs, are the same for a child of any age.
- Where you meet it. None of the 10,000 packaged foods scanned most on Open Food Facts list it. Nine in ten of those foods are sold in Europe (counted 26 Sep 2026).
- 2 citations from JECFA and EFSA, each one below.
What Succinic acid 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. Succinic acid 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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Agency review
JECFA evaluation — succinic acid (ADI 'not specified')
Natural constituent of plants and animals; tolerated at high dietary concentrations; does not represent a hazard at food-additive levels because of its normal metabolic role. -
EFSA
call for data (July 2024) — background document, re-evaluation of fumaric acid (E 297) and succinic acid (E 363)
Re-evaluation opened in 2024; no safety conclusion published as of Aug 2026.
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 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 Succinic acid (E363) 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: Natural constituent of plants and animals; tolerated at high dietary concentrations; does not represent a hazard at food-additive levels because of its normal metabolic role (JECFA evaluation, succinic acid (ADI 'not specified')).
What is E363?
E363 is the E number for Succinic acid, an acidity regulator. Open Food Facts tags it en:e363.
Next to it on the label
The E numbers either side of E363 in our table, then the closest acidity regulators by number.
- 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
- Sodium malates (E350), no risk identified
- Adipic acid (E355), no risk identified
- Calcium disodium EDTA (E385), no risk identified