Sodium erythorbate
A sodium salt antioxidant used in cured and preserved meats and fish to lock in colour and slow the loss of freshness.
EFSA found low acute toxicity, no adverse effects in available studies and no genotoxicity or carcinogenicity concern, and retained the group acceptable daily intake of 6 mg/kg a day for erythorbic acid and sodium erythorbate.
What is it?
Sodium erythorbate is the sodium salt of erythorbic acid, a stereoisomer (mirror-image molecule) of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). It is structurally related to sodium ascorbate (E301) but has far weaker vitamin C activity. It is produced by microbial fermentation of sugars, not from animal sources.
What does it do?
It acts as an antioxidant by donating electrons to oxygen, slowing oxidation reactions that would otherwise cause off-flavours, colour loss and rancidity. In cured meats, it accelerates the conversion of added nitrite to nitric oxide, which binds to myoglobin and produces the stable pink-red colour associated with cooked ham, bacon and sausage. This mechanism also reduces the residual nitrite left in the finished product, which lowers the potential for some downstream reactions.
Where you will see it
Most commonly found in cured and preserved meats such as bacon, ham, frankfurters, pepperoni and cooked sausage, and in preserved and frozen fish including salmon and trout. It is used at much lower levels in some fruit and vegetable preparations to prevent browning. On a UK label it appears as 'sodium erythorbate' or 'E316'.
What the science says
Nitrosamine formation in cured meat
Nitrosamines are compounds that can form when nitrite, used as a curing agent in processed meat, reacts with proteins at high heat or in the gut. Several nitrosamines are established animal carcinogens. Sodium erythorbate is added partly because it competes for the nitrite, converting it to nitric oxide before it can react to form nitrosamines, which measurably reduces nitrosamine levels in finished cured products. The additive itself is not a nitrosamine precursor.
Sodium erythorbate and erythorbic acid reduce nitrosamine formation in cured meat products by accelerating the reduction of nitrite to nitric oxide.
EFSA concluded that dietary exposure to nitrosamines from all food sources is a public health concern for all age groups, with processed meat being a key contributor.
Regulatory safety review
EFSA completed a full re-evaluation of sodium erythorbate in 2016 and set an acceptable daily intake of 6 mg per kilogram of body weight per day. At the levels permitted in food and at typical consumption patterns, intake stays well below this figure. JECFA (the joint UN/WHO committee) had previously assessed the additive and set no numerical ADI, judging intake from food use to be of no concern.
EFSA established an ADI of 6 mg/kg body weight/day for erythorbic acid and its sodium salt (E315/E316) following a 2016 re-evaluation, and concluded that use at permitted levels did not raise a safety concern.
Vitamin C interference at very high intake
Because erythorbate is a structural analogue of vitamin C, very high doses in animal studies have interfered with vitamin C metabolism. At the doses present in food this effect is not observed in humans. The EFSA 2016 opinion noted there is no evidence of interaction at normal dietary exposure.
Animal studies at high doses showed erythorbate could interfere with ascorbic acid (vitamin C) metabolism, but no such effect has been demonstrated at food-use levels in humans.
Where it stands with the regulators
Who should be careful
No specific population group needs to avoid E316 on the basis of the additive itself. People reducing their intake of processed and cured meats for broader dietary reasons will naturally avoid it, as it appears almost exclusively in those products. Look for 'sodium erythorbate' or 'E316' on the ingredients list.
The honest read
Sodium erythorbate has one of the more straightforward profiles among food additives. Its own toxicology is well-characterised, it has been through a formal EFSA re-evaluation, and the science does not raise a signal specific to the additive. The honest framing is contextual: it is used almost exclusively in cured and processed meats, a food category that IARC classifies as Group 1 for colorectal cancer based on regular consumption. E316 is not the reason for that classification, and it actually reduces one of the chemical pathways (nitrosamine formation) that contributes to the broader concern about cured meats. A shopper looking at E316 on a label is really looking at a signal that the product is cured or processed meat, and the relevant science is about that category, not this additive.
Related additives
Common questions
Is E316 banned in the UK?
No. Sodium erythorbate is on the UK FSA's approved additives list and is permitted under assimilated EU Regulation 1333/2008. It has not been restricted or banned.
Does sodium erythorbate cause cancer?
There is no evidence linking sodium erythorbate itself to cancer. It is used in cured and processed meats, and that food category is classified by IARC as Group 1 for colorectal cancer based on regular consumption. The additive actually reduces nitrosamine formation, one of the chemical pathways associated with that broader classification.
What foods contain E316?
Predominantly cured and preserved meats, including bacon, ham, frankfurters, pepperoni and cooked sausage. Also found in some preserved and frozen fish products. It is rarely used outside these categories.
Is E316 vegan?
Yes. Sodium erythorbate is produced by microbial fermentation of plant-derived sugars and does not involve animal products or by-products.
Sources
- UK FSA Approved Additives and E Numbers
- EFSA ANS Panel re-evaluation of erythorbic acid (E315) and sodium erythorbate (E316), EFSA Journal 2016
- EFSA Journal: Risk assessment of N-nitrosamines in food (2023)
- IARC Monographs Volume 114: Consumption of Red Meat and Processed Meat (2015)
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