E-numbers / Thickeners & emulsifiers / E406
also: Agar-agar · Kanten
A setting agent made from red seaweed. It sets jellies and dairy-free desserts instead of animal gelatine, and stays firm at room temperature.
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Agar, also called agar-agar, is a mix of fibres taken from the cell walls of red seaweeds.
245
of the 43,325 UK supermarket foods we checked declare E406 in their ingredients
That is 0.6%, counted by its code or its name.
Counted by NutraSafe from UK supermarket ingredient lists, September 2026. How we counted
Agar, also called agar-agar, is a mix of fibres taken from the cell walls of red seaweeds. The seaweed is boiled, the liquid filtered and the gel dried into flakes, strips or powder. It has been used in food in East and Southeast Asia for centuries.
It soaks up water and sets into a firm gel at as little as 1%. It sets at around 32 to 40 degrees Celsius and melts at around 85, so agar jellies hold their shape at room temperature and do not melt in your hand like gelatine. The body cannot digest it, so it passes through the gut mostly whole, acting as a soluble fibre.
Jellies, fruit gels, sweets, jam and marmalade, dairy-free cheese and yoghurt, ice cream and frozen desserts, tinned meat and fish in jelly, and some capsules. UK labels call it agar, agar-agar or E406.
Human digestive enzymes cannot break agar down, so it reaches the large bowel mostly whole, where gut bacteria ferment some of it. At higher intakes it adds bulk to stool and speeds things through. Some studies using large supplement doses noted a laxative effect, far above the amounts in food.
Agar is not broken down by the enzymes in saliva or the pancreas and passes into the large bowel, where gut bacteria partly ferment it into short-chain fatty acids.
At very high supplement doses (around 180g a day in one older Japanese study), agar was linked to weight loss and lower blood sugar in overweight adults with type 2 diabetes, put down to its bulk and fullness effect.
Agar comes from seaweed, not from common allergy-causing plants or animals. Recorded allergic reactions to agar in food are rare. People who handle large amounts of the dried powder at work have become sensitive to it, but that is not a food exposure concern.
Reviewers found no evidence that agar in food causes allergy in the general population at the levels used.
European reviewers looked at agar in 2016 and set no numerical daily limit. They found no toxicity concern at the levels used, and no sign of cancer, DNA damage or harm to reproduction.
Reviewers raised no safety issue for the general population at estimated intakes of agar as an additive, and set no numerical daily limit.
Daily limit. None set.
No group is advised to avoid it. People known to react to red seaweed products should check for agar or E406 on labels. Very large supplement doses can act as a laxative, which does not apply at the amounts in food.
Agar has been used in cooking for centuries, first in Japan and later across Asia and Europe. Regulators in the UK, EU and US have all reviewed it and found nothing to restrict. The 2016 European review, the most recent, found no toxicity concern and set no limit on intake.
No. Agar is approved in the UK and is one of the most widely approved setting agents in UK and EU food law.
At the amounts in food it passes through the gut mostly undigested and acts as a soluble fibre. Very large supplement doses can have a laxative effect, but not at the amounts used in food.
Jellies, fruit gels, some jams and sweets, dairy-free cheese and yoghurt, ice cream and tinned products set in jelly. It is also used in food supplements. Look for agar, agar-agar or E406.
Yes. It comes from red seaweed, with nothing from animals, and is widely used as a vegan alternative to gelatine, which is made from animal collagen.
Last reviewed: 20 June 2026
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