Sulphur dioxide is the preservative the food industry lists as E220. In our table it is high risk: it takes 30 of the 33 additive points off a product's score for a child.
- High risk. 30 of the 33 additive points come off a product that carries it.
- 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. For a child under 6 it moves one class up.
- 4 citations from EFSA, FDA, IARC, each one below.
What Sulphur dioxide does to a score
A packaged food starts with 33 points for what is in its ingredient list. Sulphur dioxide takes 30 of the 33 additive points off a product's score, and a child under 6 sees it one class higher again. 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. They are quoted as the source wrote them.
-
EFSA
10.2903/j.efsa.2016.4438 (EFSA Journal 2016;14(4):4438)
Temporary group ADI 0.7 mg SO2 eq/kg bw/day (temporary because of uncertainties/limitations in the database); 'exposure estimates to sulfur dioxide and sulfites were higher than the group ADI ... for all population groups'. -
EFSA
10.2903/j.efsa.2022.7594 (EFSA Journal 2022;20(11):7594)
Follow-up: 'The existing ADI was withdrawn because adequate toxicity data were not available.' EFSA switched to a margin-of-exposure approach and concluded the MOEs 'raise some safety concerns for high consumers of foodstuffs that contain sulfites'; no new industry data had been generated. -
FDA
ORA Laboratory Manual Vol. IV §10 (fda.gov/media/73584/download)
US: sulfiting agents prohibited on fresh fruits and vegetables intended to be sold or served raw (except potatoes) effective 1986-08-08 after reports of allergic-type reactions; presence above 10 ppm must be declared (rule published 1986-07-09, effective 1987-01-09). -
IARC
classification list — Sulfur dioxide, Group 3 (Vol. 54, 1992)
Not classifiable as to carcinogenicity — the sulfite case rests on exposure/ADI withdrawal and asthma sensitivity, not cancer.
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IARC Group 1 or 2A with a dietary exposure route; or EFSA has withdrawn or negated a safety conclusion; or EFSA’s own exposure assessment finds a child age group exceeding the ADI at mean intake; or the substance is banned or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.
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.
Other preservatives in the table
- Calcium bisulphite (E227), high risk
- Potassium bisulphite (E228), high risk
- Potassium nitrite (E249), high risk
- Sodium nitrite (E250), high risk
- Sodium nitrate (E251), high risk
- Potassium nitrate (E252), high risk