Amylase
A naturally occurring enzyme that breaks down starch into sugars, used in baking and brewing to improve texture and fermentation.
What is it?
Amylase is an enzyme, the same class of protein found in human saliva and the pancreas, that breaks apart starch molecules. Commercial food-grade amylase is typically derived from fungi (particularly Aspergillus oryzae) or bacteria, though it also occurs in malted barley, wheat flour, and other grain sources.
What does it do?
It cleaves the chemical bonds in starch chains, breaking them down into shorter sugars such as maltose and glucose. In baking this improves dough rise (by giving yeast more fermentable sugars), extends bread shelf life by retarding staling, and produces a softer crumb. In brewing it converts grain starches to fermentable sugars. In most baked applications the enzyme is inactivated by the heat of the oven.
Where you will see it
Bread (especially mass-produced loaves and rolls), flour improvers, malt-containing products, beer and ale wort production, breakfast cereals, glucose syrups, and some snack foods. Because it is typically used as a processing aid that is inactivated before the final product reaches the consumer, it is often not declared on UK ingredient labels. When it does appear, it is listed as 'amylase', 'alpha-amylase', 'fungal amylase', or within 'flour treatment agent (amylase)' or as part of 'enzymes'.
What the science says
How amylase behaves in the body
Amylase is already a component of normal human physiology: the body produces it in the salivary glands and pancreas to digest starch. Any residual amylase in a finished food product is broken down in the digestive tract in the same way as dietary protein. There is no established accumulation, systemic absorption of active enzyme, or pathway by which food-grade amylase would exert effects beyond the gut lumen.
Alpha-amylase is a normal constituent of human saliva and pancreatic fluid; exogenous food-grade amylase is digested as a protein in the gastrointestinal tract and does not enter systemic circulation in active form.
Occupational allergy in bakery workers
High-level inhalation exposure to airborne amylase flour (in bakery or milling environments) is a well-recognised cause of occupational asthma and rhinitis in workers. This is an inhalation sensitivity in workers handling enzyme powders in industrial quantities, not a reaction to eating finished baked goods. Consumers eating bread where amylase was used (and typically heat-inactivated) are in a different exposure situation to bakers working with enzyme dusts.
Fungal amylase (from Aspergillus oryzae) is a recognised cause of occupational asthma and rhinitis in bakery workers exposed to flour containing enzyme improvers.
EFSA noted that food enzymes of fungal origin, including amylase, may sensitise individuals through inhalation in occupational settings; consumer dietary exposure is considered distinct from this route.
Where it stands with the regulators
Who should be careful
Bakery workers with confirmed occupational amylase sensitisation should discuss exposure management with an occupational health professional. For food consumers, no avoidance recommendation follows from current evidence. People with a diagnosed allergy to fungal-derived products who are concerned can look for 'amylase', 'fungal amylase', or 'enzymes' on ingredient labels, though in most finished baked goods the enzyme has been heat-inactivated before the product reaches a shelf.
The honest read
Amylase is one of the most ordinary food enzymes in existence: the body makes it, malted grain contains it, and it has been in bread for as long as bakers have used malt. The industrial form used today is the same class of protein, derived from food-grade fungi. The occupational asthma finding is real and well-established, but it applies to workers inhaling enzyme dust in bakeries, not to people eating bread. There is no credible evidence that consuming finished baked goods containing residual or active amylase causes adverse effects in consumers, and there is no IARC classification, no EU or UK ban, and no regulator-imposed restriction on use. EFSA's formal enzyme review programme was working through a large backlog of enzyme applications; that process being ongoing is an administrative fact about regulatory timelines, not a signal of unresolved safety concern.
Related additives
Common questions
Is E1107 banned in the UK?
No. Amylase is permitted in the UK and EU as a food enzyme and food additive. It is one of the most widely used baking enzymes and has no UK or EU ban or restriction.
Does amylase cause any health problems for people who eat bread?
There is no established evidence that consuming food containing amylase causes harm to consumers. Occupational asthma in bakery workers from inhaling enzyme-containing flour dust is a documented workplace issue, but this is distinct from eating finished baked goods, where the enzyme is typically heat-inactivated during baking.
What foods contain E1107?
It is most commonly found in mass-produced bread, rolls, and bakery products, as well as flour improver blends. It is also used in beer production and in making glucose and maltose syrups. Because it usually functions as a processing aid that is destroyed by heat, it is often not listed on the final product label. When declared, look for 'amylase', 'alpha-amylase', 'fungal amylase', or simply 'enzymes'.
Is E1107 vegan?
Commercial food-grade amylase is typically derived from fungi (such as Aspergillus oryzae) or bacteria, making it vegan. Some amylase preparations are sourced from animal pancreatic tissue (pancreatin); labels do not always specify the source. Consumers who need certainty should check with the manufacturer of the specific product.
Sources
- UK FSA: Approved additives and E numbers
- EU Regulation (EC) No 1332/2008 on food enzymes
- European Commission: EU Rules on Enzymes
- Food Safety Authority of Ireland: Regulating Food Enzymes in the EU
- Baur X et al., Occupational asthma from fungal amylase used in the baking industry, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
- AMFEP: Regulatory aspects on food enzymes
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