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Updated up to the 47th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (2024)

Food Additive Details

Sodium alginate (401)
Functional Classes
  • Bulking agent
  • Carrier
  • Emulsifier
  • Foaming agent
  • Gelling agent
  • Glazing agent
  • Humectant
  • Sequestrant
  • Stabilizer
  • Thickener

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 Click here to search the WHO JECFA database for evaluation of additive(s) with INS No. 401

GSFA Provisions for Sodium alginate
Number Food Category Max Level Notes
Food Category Hierarchy 14.1.5 Coffee, coffee substitutes, tea, herbal infusions, and other hot cereal and grain beverages, excluding cocoa GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 09.2.4.1 Cooked fish and fish products GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 09.2.4.2 Cooked mollusks, crustaceans, and echinoderms GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 06.4.2 Dried pastas and noodles and like products GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 01.2.1.2 Fermented milks (plain), heat-treated after fermentation GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 01.2.1.1 Fermented milks (plain), not heat-treated after fermentation GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 08.1.2 Fresh meat, poultry, and game, comminuted GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 08.1.1 Fresh meat, poultry, and game, whole pieces or cuts GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 06.4.1 Fresh pastas and noodles and like products GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 09.2.4.3 Fried fish and fish products, including mollusks, crustaceans, and echinoderms GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 09.2.2 Frozen battered fish, fish fillets, and fish products, including mollusks, crustaceans, and echinoderms GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 10.2.2 Frozen egg products GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 09.2.1 Frozen fish, fish fillets, and fish products, including mollusks, crustaceans, and echinoderms GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 09.2.3 Frozen minced and creamed fish products, including mollusks, crustaceans, and echinoderms GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 10.2.1 Liquid egg products GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 11.4 Other sugars and syrups (e.g. xylose, maple syrup, sugar toppings) GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 01.4.1 Pasteurized cream (plain) GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 01.2.2 Renneted milk (plain) GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 09.2.5 Smoked, dried, fermented, and/or salted fish and fish products, including mollusks, crustaceans, and echinoderms GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 01.4.2 Sterilized and UHT creams, whipping and whipped creams, and reduced fat creams (plain) GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 04.1.1.2 Surface-treated fresh fruit GMP
Food Category Hierarchy 04.2.1.2 Surface-treated fresh vegetables (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweeds, and nuts and seeds GMP

Note: Unless otherwise specified, food additive provisions apply to the food category indicated (e.g. Dairy), as well as to all subcategories of that category (e.g. Cheese, Ripened Cheese, etc.).


GSFA Table 3 Provisions

Sodium alginate is a food additive that is included in Table 3, and as such may be used in the following foods under the conditions of good manufacturing practices (GMP) as outlined in the Preamble of the Codex GSFA. Although not listed below, Sodium alginate could also be used in heat-treated butter milk of food category 01.1.1 and spices of food category 12.2.1. Note that food categories listed in the Annex to Table 3 were excluded accordingly. Sodium alginate is acceptable in foods conforming to the following commodity standards: CS 96-1981, CS 97-1981, CS 70-1981 (for use in packing media only), CS 94-1981 (for use in packing media only), CS 119-1981 (for use in packing media only), CS 249-2006, CS 221-2001, CS 273-1968, CS 275-1973, CS 253-2006 (see functional class table and footnote).
Sodium alginate is a: Emulsifier, Humectant, Stabilizer, Thickener
Any Emulsifier listed in Table 3 can be acceptable for use in all products conforming to CS 117-1981, CS 309R-2011, CS 256-2007.
Any Humectant listed in Table 3 can be acceptable for use in all products conforming to CS 117-1981.
Any Stabilizer listed in Table 3 can be acceptable for use in all products conforming to CS 117-1981, CS 256-2007.
Any Thickener listed in Table 3 can be acceptable for use in all products conforming to CS 117-1981, CS 256-2007, CS 306-2011.

Number Food Category
Food Category Hierarchy 14.2.7 Aromatized alcoholic beverages (e.g. beer, wine and spirituous cooler-type beverages, low alcoholic refreshers)
Food Category Hierarchy 07.0 Bakery wares
Food Category Hierarchy 06.6 Batters (e.g. for breading or batters for fish or poultry)
Food Category Hierarchy 14.2.1 Beer and malt beverages
Food Category Hierarchy 06.3 Breakfast cereals, including rolled oats
Food Category Hierarchy 04.2.2.4 Canned or bottled (pasteurized) or retort pouch vegetables (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), and seaweeds
Food Category Hierarchy 06.5 Cereal and starch based desserts (e.g. rice pudding, tapioca pudding)
Food Category Hierarchy 01.6.5 Cheese analogues
Food Category Hierarchy 14.2.2 Cider and perry
Food Category Hierarchy 01.4.3 Clotted cream (plain)
Food Category Hierarchy 01.3 Condensed milk and analogues (plain)
Food Category Hierarchy 05.0 Confectionery
Food Category Hierarchy 04.2.2.8 Cooked or fried vegetables (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), and seaweeds
Food Category Hierarchy 01.4.4 Cream analogues
Food Category Hierarchy 01.7 Dairy-based desserts (e.g. pudding, fruit or flavoured yoghurt)
Food Category Hierarchy 13.5 Dietetic foods (e.g. supplementary foods for dietary use) excluding products of food categories 13.1 - 13.4 and 13.6
Food Category Hierarchy 13.3 Dietetic foods intended for special medical purposes (excluding products of food category 13.1)
Food Category Hierarchy 13.4 Dietetic formulae for slimming purposes and weight reduction
Food Category Hierarchy 14.2.6 Distilled spirituous beverages containing more than 15% alcohol
Food Category Hierarchy 10.2.3 Dried and/or heat coagulated egg products
Food Category Hierarchy 04.2.2.2 Dried vegetables (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweeds, and nuts and seeds
Food Category Hierarchy 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings)
Food Category Hierarchy 03.0 Edible ices, including sherbet and sorbet
Food Category Hierarchy 10.4 Egg-based desserts (e.g. custard)
Food Category Hierarchy 02.3 Fat emulsions mainly of type oil-in-water, including mixed and/or flavoured products based on fat emulsions
Food Category Hierarchy 02.2.2 Fat spreads, dairy fat spreads and blended spreads
Food Category Hierarchy 02.4 Fat-based desserts excluding dairy-based dessert products of food category 01.7
Food Category Hierarchy 01.1.4 Flavoured fluid milk drinks
Food Category Hierarchy 13.6 Food supplements
Food Category Hierarchy 09.4 Fully preserved, including canned or fermented fish and fish products, including mollusks, crustaceans, and echinoderms
Food Category Hierarchy 01.8.1 Liquid whey and whey products, excluding whey cheeses
Food Category Hierarchy 14.2.5 Mead
Food Category Hierarchy 01.5 Milk powder and cream powder and powder analogues (plain)
Food Category Hierarchy 12.4 Mustards
Food Category Hierarchy 06.7 Pre-cooked or processed rice products, including rice cakes (Oriental type only)
Food Category Hierarchy 06.4.3 Pre-cooked pastas and noodles and like products
Food Category Hierarchy 16.0 Prepared foods
Food Category Hierarchy 10.3 Preserved eggs, including alkaline, salted, and canned eggs
Food Category Hierarchy 01.6.4 Processed cheese
Food Category Hierarchy 08.3 Processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products
Food Category Hierarchy 04.1.2 Processed fruit
Food Category Hierarchy 08.2 Processed meat, poultry, and game products in whole pieces or cuts
Food Category Hierarchy 12.10 Protein products other than from soybeans
Food Category Hierarchy 15.0 Ready-to-eat savouries
Food Category Hierarchy 01.6.2 Ripened cheese
Food Category Hierarchy 12.7 Salads (e.g. macaroni salad, potato salad) and sandwich spreads excluding cocoa- and nut-based spreads of food categories 04.2.2.5 and 05.1.3
Food Category Hierarchy 12.6 Sauces and like products
Food Category Hierarchy 12.2.2 Seasonings and condiments
Food Category Hierarchy 09.3 Semi-preserved fish and fish products, including mollusks, crustaceans, and echinoderms
Food Category Hierarchy 12.5 Soups and broths
Food Category Hierarchy 06.8 Soybean products (excluding soybean-based seasonings and condiments of food category 12.9)
Food Category Hierarchy 12.9 Soybean-based seasonings and condiments
Food Category Hierarchy 11.6 Table-top sweeteners, including those containing high-intensity sweeteners
Food Category Hierarchy 01.6.1 Unripened cheese
Food Category Hierarchy 04.2.2.6 Vegetable (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweed, and nut and seed pulps and preparations (e.g. vegetable desserts and sauces, candied vegetables) other than food category 04.2.2.5
Food Category Hierarchy 04.2.2.5 Vegetable (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweed, and nut and seed purees and spreads (e.g., peanut butter)
Food Category Hierarchy 04.2.2.3 Vegetables (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), and seaweeds in vinegar, oil, brine, or soybean sauce
Food Category Hierarchy 12.3 Vinegars
Food Category Hierarchy 14.1.4 Water-based flavoured drinks, including "sport," "energy," or "electrolyte" drinks and particulated drinks
Food Category Hierarchy 14.2.4 Wines (other than grape)
Food Category Hierarchy 12.8 Yeast and like products

Note: Unless otherwise specified, food additive provisions apply to the food category indicated (e.g. Dairy), as well as to all subcategories of that category (e.g. Cheese, Ripened Cheese, etc.).

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