UK food labels, explained
Are E numbers vegan? Nearly all of them are.
Eight E numbers are always animal-derived. About six more depend on which raw material the manufacturer used, and the label will not tell you which. Everything else, the large majority, is synthetic, mineral, plant or made by fermentation, and contains nothing animal.
That includes every colour people ask us about most. E102, E133, E110 and E124 are all synthetic, so all four are vegan by composition. E124 is the one that catches people out, because it is sold as Cochineal Red A and has no insect in it whatsoever.
Written 20 September 2026 · Aaron Keen, founder, NutraSafe · Sourced from our own additive database and checked against the GOV.UK approved list
The eight that are always animal-derived
| E number | What it is | Where you meet it |
|---|---|---|
| E120 Carmine, cochineal | Red dye from dried female cochineal insects | Strawberry and cherry yoghurts, red sweets, flavoured milk |
| E441 Gelatine | Protein boiled out of animal bones, skin and hides, usually pig or cattle | Jelly sweets, panna cotta, cheesecakes, mousses |
| E542 Bone phosphate | Heat-treated cattle or pig bone, for the calcium phosphate | Powdered dairy, icing sugar, seasoning powders |
| E901 Beeswax | Wax made by honeybees | Chocolate sweets, sugar-coated dragees, chewing gum |
| E904 Shellac | Resin made by the lac insect, scraped from tree branches | Hard-coated sweets, dragees, chocolate-covered nuts |
| E913 Lanolin | The waxy grease sheep make on their wool | Skin of fresh citrus and other fruit, some chewing gum |
| E1105 Lysozyme | Enzyme protein from hen egg white | Hard cheese: Grana Padano, Gouda, Emmental, aged types |
| E1000 Cholic acid | A bile acid | Not authorised in UK or EU food, so it should not appear |
E1105 is the one most lists leave out. It is lysozyme, an enzyme taken from hen egg white, and it is used to stop late blowing in hard cheese. If you eat Grana Padano, aged Gouda or Emmental, it is the additive to know about, and it is the reason a cheese can be vegetarian-labelled and still not be egg-free.
E1000 is on the list for completeness rather than because you will meet it. Cholic acid is a bile acid and it is not authorised for food use in the UK or the EU, so it should not appear on a British pack at all.
The ones where the code does not settle it
These are the awkward ones, and they are far more common on a UK pack than the eight above. An E number names a function and a chemical family, not a source. When both a plant and an animal route exist, the same code covers both.
| E number | Why it is not a straight answer |
|---|---|
| E471 Mono- and diglycerides | Glycerol joined to fatty acids, and those fatty acids come from plant oils or animal fat. The single most common ambiguous additive in UK bread, cake, margarine and ice cream. |
| E570 Stearic and other fatty acids | Same family, same problem. Chewing gum, hard sweet shells, vitamin tablets. |
| E920 L-cysteine | A dough improver made either from feathers and hog bristles or by fermentation. Most lists call it animal outright; both routes are in use. |
| E1101 Protease | An enzyme that can come from animals, plants or microbes. |
| E627 Disodium guanylate | Made from yeast extract or from dried fish. |
| E631 Disodium inosinate | Built on a savoury compound found in meat and fish. Often paired with E627 in crisps, instant noodles and stock cubes. |
E471 is the one you will actually run into. It is in sliced bread, cakes, margarine, ice cream and chocolate. In the UK it is usually made from vegetable oil, but “usually” is not a guarantee and the label is not required to say. If it matters to you, a vegan certification mark on the pack or a question to the manufacturer are the only two things that settle it.
E120 is insects. E124 is not, despite the name
E120 is carmine, also sold as cochineal or carminic acid. It is a red dye made by drying and crushing female cochineal insects, then purifying the colour out. It is genuinely animal, and it turns up in strawberry and cherry yoghurts, red sweets and flavoured milk.
E124 is Ponceau 4R, and one of its permitted names is Cochineal Red A. It is a synthetic azo dye. The name is a reference to the shade of red, not to the source, and there is no insect involved at any stage. A shopper avoiding cochineal who sees “Cochineal Red A” on a pack of jelly is looking at a petroleum-derived colour.
Both are legal in Great Britain, and far fewer colours are banned here than people think. E124 is one of the six that must carry the children's attention warning on a UK label.
What this page does and does not answer
Everything above is about what the additive is made from. That is the question the searches are asking and it is the one that can be answered from the chemistry and the manufacturing route.
It is not the only thing some people mean by vegan. Synthetic colours have a long history of animal testing, and some vegan organisations take that into account, which is why you will occasionally see E102 or E133 described as not vegan even though nothing animal goes into them. Both positions are coherent; they are answering different questions. We have stuck to the source, said so plainly, and left the rest to you.
One more limit worth stating. This covers the additives we hold structured source data for. Where a code can go either way we have said so rather than guessing, because a confident wrong answer is worse than an honest “it depends” when somebody is standing in an aisle deciding what to buy.
What people ask about vegan E numbers
Is E102 vegan?
Yes, by composition. Tartrazine is a synthetic dye; our own entry describes it as a man-made yellow that does not occur in nature, so nothing animal goes into making it. It is one of the Southampton Six, which means a UK pack carrying it must also carry a warning about effects on children's attention, but that is a separate question from whether it is vegan.
Is E133 vegan?
Yes, by composition. Brilliant Blue FCF is a synthetic dye made from petroleum chemicals. No animal material is used to produce it.
Is E110 vegan?
Yes, by composition. Sunset Yellow FCF is synthetic. Like E102 it is one of the Southampton Six and carries the UK warning label, which is about children's attention rather than animal content.
Is E124 vegan? It is called Cochineal Red A.
Yes, despite the name. This is the one that catches people out. E120 cochineal is a red dye made from insects. E124, sold as Ponceau 4R or Cochineal Red A, is a synthetic azo dye with no insect in it at all. The two names look related and the substances are not.
Is E211 vegan?
Yes. Sodium benzoate is a synthetic preservative, the sodium salt of benzoic acid. It is in fizzy and energy drinks, squashes and pickles, and nothing animal is used to make it.
Which E numbers are never vegan?
Eight, on our data: E120 carmine from insects, E441 gelatine from bones and hides, E542 bone phosphate, E901 beeswax, E904 shellac from the lac insect, E913 lanolin from sheep wool, E1105 lysozyme from hen egg white, and E1000 cholic acid, which is not authorised in UK or EU food anyway. E1105 is the one most lists miss.
Which E numbers might be animal-derived?
The fatty-acid family and a few others, because the same code covers both plant and animal sources: E471 mono- and diglycerides, E570 stearic and other fatty acids, E920 L-cysteine, E1101 protease, and the flavour enhancers E627 and E631. The label will not tell you which was used, so a manufacturer enquiry or a vegan certification mark is the only way to know.
Is E441 gelatine ever vegan?
No. E441 is gelatine, boiled out of animal bones, skin and hides, usually pig or cattle. Pectin (E440) and agar are the plant gelling agents that do a similar job, and both are vegan.
Does a vegan label mean no E numbers?
No, and the two are unrelated. A product can carry a vegan certification and still contain plenty of E numbers, because most additives are synthetic, mineral, plant or fermentation derived. Equally a product with a short ingredients list can contain gelatine.
Check the pack instead of the list
Scan a UK barcode and NutraSafe names every additive the label declares, whether it is written as E120 or as cochineal, and says what each one is and where it comes from. Most British labels spell additives out rather than printing the code.
Get NutraSafe on the App Store →Free to download. Naming each additive on a pack and what it does is a Pro feature.
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Last reviewed: 20 September 2026 · Sources: NutraSafe's own additive database, where each entry carries a structured provenance field, read 20 September 2026; the GOV.UK approved additives and E numbers list (327 codes, published 25 June 2026). Manufacturers change recipes, so a pack is always the final word.