Aluminium-Containing Additives
E520–E523, E541; selected INS 554–559
E520, E521, E522, E523, E541, INS 541, INS 541(i), INS 541(ii), INS 554, INS 555, INS 556, INS 559, aluminium sulphate, aluminum sulfate, aluminium sodium sulphate, sodium aluminum sulfate, aluminium potassium sulphate, potassium aluminum sulfate, aluminium ammonium sulphate, ammonium aluminum sulfate, sodium aluminium phosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, SALP, sodium aluminosilicate, potassium aluminosilicate, calcium aluminium silicate, aluminum silicate
What it is
Aluminium can enter food through several additives with very different jobs: some are used in baking powders, some carry food colours as aluminium lakes, and others keep powders from clumping.
Why BOTIA flags it
Aluminium turns up in food additives more often than people expect — in baking powders, in the lakes used for colours, and in anti-caking agents. Very little is absorbed, but what is absorbed leaves the body slowly, so what matters is the total from everything you eat, not one ingredient. JECFA set a weekly limit for that reason, and no single label can tell you where you stand.
BOTIA CAN
- Detect the listed aluminium/aluminum additives and their E- or INS identifiers when they are declared on the label.
- Explain where aluminium-containing additives can appear and why total intake across different foods over the week matters more than one isolated ingredient.
BOTIA CANNOT
- Calculate your total weekly aluminium exposure from a single product label.
- Determine how much aluminium a product contributes, how much you absorb or how much remains in your body from the ingredient list alone.