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Food additive · Flour bleaching agent / dough conditioner

Azodicarbonamide (ADA)

E-number
E927a
CAS
123-77-3

A chemical used in the US to bleach flour and condition bread dough. It is not authorized as a food additive in the EU, and the FDA began a safety reassessment in 2025.

  • Food additive
  • Preservative
  • Ultra-processing marker
  • Expert review pending
Moderate concern Level 2 of 4 How concern levels work

Strong evidence of harm at high intake, emerging evidence of harm, or a common allergen or irritant. The concern level sets how many points azodicarbonamide (ADA) costs on a product’s receipt.

What the evidence says

  • Process contaminantRegulatory

    The EU suspended its use as a blowing agent in food-contact plastics in 2004 because it breaks down into semicarbazide when heated. [1]

  • Under regulatory reviewInfo

    The FDA started a post-market assessment and requested data in 2026 (Docket FDA-2026-N-4126). [2]

Evidence tiers say how sure the evidence is, separately from how much it matters. About evidence tiers.

Rules around the world

WhereStatusDetailsDateSource
United States Under review Permitted up to 45 ppm of flour (21 CFR 172.806); FDA post-market assessment under way. — [3]
European Union Not permitted Not on the Union list of food additives; suspended as a blowing agent in food-contact plastics since 2005. — [1]
Canada Permitted Permitted as a flour treatment agent up to 45 ppm. — [4]

“Banned” means explicitly prohibited or withdrawn after review; “not permitted” means never authorized there. We use each regulator’s own words.

Popular products that list azodicarbonamide (ADA)

3 of the 17,000 most-scanned products in the US with a GoodSwap page list azodicarbonamide (ADA).

Diets and allergens

Vegan
Yes
Vegetarian
Yes
Gluten-free
Yes

For the ingredient in general. Always check the package: a product’s own labels win.

Names GoodSwap recognizes on labels (6)
  • ada
  • e927a
  • azodicarbonamide
  • azodicarbonamide ada
  • azodicarbonamide dough conditioner
  • azodicarbonamide added as a dough conditioner

Sources

  1. Commission Directive 2004/1/EC of 6 January 2004 amending Directive 2002/72/EC as regards the suspension of the use of azodicarbonamide as blowing agent

    European Union (Official Journal) · Jan 6, 2004 · Law

    “to suspend the use of azodicarbonamide in accordance with the precautionary principle”

    eur-lex.europa.eu

  2. List of Select Chemicals in the Food Supply Under FDA Review

    U.S. Food and Drug Administration · Jul 29, 2026 · Regulator

    “The table below includes select food ingredients (including food and color additives), food contact substances, and contaminants under FDA review as of May 12, 2026 .”

    fda.gov

  3. 21 CFR 172.806 Azodicarbonamide

    Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR), U.S. Office of the Federal Register · Nov 22, 2016 · Law

    “As a dough conditioner in bread baking in a total amount not to exceed 0.0045 percent (45 parts per million) by weight of the flour used”

    ecfr.gov

  4. 2. List of Permitted Flour Treatment Agents (Lists of Permitted Food Additives)

    Health Canada · Dec 18, 2024 · Regulator

    “A.4 Azodicarbonamide n/a (a) Bread (a) Flour treatment agent (a) 45 ppm of the flour n/a”

    canada.ca