E-numbers / Other additives / E903
also: Brazil wax · Palm wax · Cera carnauba
A hard wax from the leaves of a Brazilian palm. It gives sweets, fruit and tablets their shine and stops them sticking.
Scan a barcode to check a food for carnauba wax. NutraSafe Pro · £3.99/month · iOS
Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Maize Starch, Water, Beef Gelatine, Citric Acid, Flavouring, Sunflower Oil, Colour (Anthocyanins), Glazing Agents (Carnauba Wax).
Carnauba wax comes from the dried leaves of the carnauba palm, grown mainly in north-east Brazil.
431
of the 43,325 UK supermarket foods we checked declare E903 in their ingredients
That is 1.0%, counted by its code or its name.
Counted by NutraSafe from UK supermarket ingredient lists, September 2026. How we counted
Carnauba wax comes from the dried leaves of the carnauba palm, grown mainly in north-east Brazil. The leaves are dried, the wax is beaten off and then cleaned. It is one of the hardest natural waxes and melts at about 82 to 86 degrees Celsius.
It forms a thin, hard, waterproof coat on food. That slows moisture loss and spoilage, helps food last, gives it a shine, and stops pieces sticking together.
The shiny coat on chocolate beans and sugar-coated sweets, the surface of fresh citrus fruit and apples to stop them drying out in storage, coffee beans, and the coating on medicine and vitamin tablets. UK labels call it carnauba wax or glazing agent (E903).
Studies show the gut absorbs almost none of it. It passes through mostly untouched. European reviewers found no health risk identified at the permitted levels.
The gut absorbs practically none of it, and the European review found no evidence of harm to the body at the levels used in food.
European reviewers estimated how much people eat across Europe. It is little, because it is only a thin surface coat. They set no numerical daily limit, since so little is absorbed and nothing pointed to harm.
Intake of E903 was low in every group, and reviewers set no numerical daily limit because the evidence did not show a need for one.
Daily limit. None set.
No group is advised to avoid it. It comes from a plant and contains none of the common allergens. People avoiding animal waxes such as beeswax (E901) sometimes look for carnauba wax or E903 on the label because it is plant-based. No warning is required on the label.
Carnauba wax has been used in food since at least the early twentieth century, one of the longest records of any glazing agent. It comes from leaves, the body absorbs almost none of it, and a modern European review kept it approved. On a label it tells you the food has a shiny coat, nothing more.
No. Carnauba wax is approved in the UK as a glazing agent, including on sweets, fresh fruit and coffee beans.
Yes. It comes from palm leaves, so it is entirely plant-based. It is one of the few glazing agents that is vegan, unlike shellac (E904), which comes from insects, or beeswax (E901).
Mostly sugar-coated and chocolate-coated sweets, the surface of fresh citrus fruit and apples, whole coffee beans, and vitamin and supplement tablets. Labels call it carnauba wax or glazing agent (E903).
Very little. Studies reviewed by European regulators found it passes through the gut mostly untouched, with almost none reaching the blood.
Last reviewed: 20 June 2026
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